BENGALURU: In order to free the city of garbage black spots, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has proposed handing over responsibility of the sites to Palike engineers. Speaking to The New Indian Express, BBMP Special Commissioner D Randeep (Solid Waste Management) said that of the 1,400 black spots identified by them, they were able to prevent 200 from reappearing after several interventions.
For the remaining 1,200 areas, where garbage is dumped illegally, the BBMP would assign responsibility to the Assistant Executive Engineer of the assembly constituency. “These engineers will have to continuously monitor black spots to ensure they are eliminated. They should check the root cause behind the throwing of garbage and remove it,’’ he said.
Randeep added that some places may be facing issues like pourakarmikas not going to the doorstep to collect waste, forcing residents to throw it at a nearby spot. “The official has to ensure that pourakarmikas to go to each house, so that black spots can be prevented. If needed, we are ready to provide more men and machinery. Engineers will have to monitor this for the next six months,’’ he said.
The High Court had recently pulled up the BBMP for being unable to clear garbage. When BBMP officials expressed their helplessness over black spots, the court even directed the police to take action against those who dump garbage on roads. On the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava, Pourakarmikas had cleared black spots and drawn rangolis to stop people from littering on roads.
Cleaning in two shifts
BBMP is considering taking up cleaning in two shifts at major commercial and crowded places. The idea was proposed by BBMP authorities at the weekly co-ordination committee meeting headed by Chief Secretary T M Vijaybhaskar. “At many places, even after clearing waste and sweeping roads, garbage accumulates again in the evening. People then blame the BBMP. So we have decided to start a second shift at places where there are more black spots. We have asked zonal commissioners to identify such places in their zone,’’ Randeep said.