Bangaloreans may have to wait for some more time to see at least some wards in the city become ‘zero-garbage wards’ as announced by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
BBMP had selected 31 wards out of 198 to make them ‘zero-garbage wards’.
However, the Dry Waste Collection Centre (DWCC) were not ready in many of those wards. On Friday, the BBMP authorities decided to take up the project only in 22 wards. The project was supposed to be launched on June 12.
Sources in the BBMP said it has been postponed to June 21. “Though there are DWCCs at these 22 wards, they are technically not fit to operate,” a source said.
Explaining further, sources said that earlier, in many of these DWCCs there were no windows and doors. Some did not have security guards too.
“All such issues have been resolved to some extent,” a source said. But now there is no water and electricity supply in few centres, while couple of them do not have proper retaining wall. The commissioner asked the officials concerned to solve these glitches. For that, the BBMP needs at least one more week. Therefore it has been postponed,” sources said.
Sources also said that the BBMP does not have weighing machines in most of these DWCCs. “Only couple of DWCCs which are managed by NGOs have weighing machines,” sources said. In April 2013, the then BBMP commissioner Siddaiah had informed the High Court that DWCCs would be set up in all 198 wards by April 30.
However, it was not done due to Assembly elections. Siddaiah sought some more time. When contacted Additional Commissioner (Soild Waste Management) Ramandeep Chowdhary told Express that around 95 wards have DWCCs. The remaining are under process and it will be ready soon. Initially, there was opposition from residents in couple of wards. “But we did not stop and construction is going on,” he said.
When asked about water and power connection, he said he is aware and has directed the concerned Chief Engineers to rectify the problem. BBMP Solid Waste Management Expert Committee member N S Ramakanth said that until there is a DWCC in every ward, waste segregation at source cannot be enforced effectively.
The idea of a DWCC is to take all the recyclable materials and avoid them going to landfill sites. It will save transportation cost too, he said.