BENGALURU: To ensure that city road are clean and instill a sense of responsibility in people, the Ugly Indian team of Bengaluru has now started the 500 km challenge, taking a cue from their success in Mahadevapura constituency.
Using simple technologies, available on an average smartphone, 500 km of city roads are being Google mapped. In every ward, 20-30 km of main roads are being taken up in the list with the details to be made public soon and will be opened for public review and rating.
The Ugly Indian teams have mapped Bengaluru’s roads within the city limits at the moment, and will gradually extend it beyond the Ring Road. “During the pandemic we saw the city had become clean. Now maintaining it is important. It is time we move away from the ideology of depending upon someone else to fix the issue or depend upon someone else’s rating. You rate the roads you travel upon. This will also put a sort of pressure on government officials as they will know they are under watch,” said a member of Ugly Indian team.
Most of the major city roads are divided into wards and among different departments, which is why there is no oneness and single ownership to ensure the road is clean and well-maintained. For accountability, ownership and responsibility the 500 km task is being taken up, another member added.
The challenge first began in Mahadevapura constituency with nine km in December2021 in two wards - Doddanekundi and Gaurdacharapalya in which one lakh residents were involved. It was extended to 26 km on January 26, 2022, and by the end of January 2022, it had increased to 75km. Eventually, it was decided to extend it to other parts of the city and not limit it to only a zone.
“In this challenge, it is not just the Ugly Indian volunteers who are involved, but even residents and locals. They will review the progress and keep uploading information of the roads. We have created the road maps ourselves and documented each stretch. At present the city roads are divided into state and national highways, major roads and ward roads. Even on the BBMP website, there is no consolidated map of all city roads but ward-wise maps. So instead of 198 wards and 27 assembly constituencies, 50 loops of 10 km each are being created and each km mapped for cleanliness,” the volunteer added.