BENGALURU: While other city corporations across the country have already begun the work for the Swachh Survekshan survey, the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) hasn’t started yet, said Solid Waste Management experts.
Bengaluru ended up as the fifth dirtiest city in India last year. The erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which is GBA now, ended up securing 36th national rank out of 40 in the Swachh Survekshan survey 2024-2025 rankings.
Experts are advising that Bengaluru, which is not fully prepared, should better skip the 2025-2026 survey, instead of taking part and ending up among the most dirtiest cities in the country, affecting the ‘Brand Bengaluru’ image, which has already taken a severe beating due to the city’s poor infrastructure and traffic.
V Ram Prasad, Solid Waste Management expert and founder of Friends of Lakes, said, “While there is provision for Bengaluru to either compete as one unit or take part as five different corporations, there is no clarity yet. In the last survey, BBMP was one corporation, which was not split into five corporations. Earlier, the survey was done only between February and March. However, the evaluation methodology has undergone a lot of change and every month, participants must update self-attested data, geo-tagged photos, and documents on various parameters.”
Prasad, who has worked with the erstwhile BBMP related to the Swachh Survekshan, said given the condition that the participants have to update data monthly, and that the five different corporations came into existence only in September last year, it would be difficult for corporations to compete individually.
Even to take part as one unit, GBA is not prepared. Along with the monthly ‘desktop assessment’, the ‘on-field assessment’ that will go on for 45-days will be done in February and March. The assessment team will verify the submissions on Garbage Free City, Open Defecation Free certification assessments and award marks, said an SWM expert who requested anonymity.
He said that this year’s toolkit is designed to give more weightage to citizens’ feedback, which will run simultaneously round the year along with the desktop and on-field assessment and that there isn’t any visible action taken by the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML).
He compared the survey to that of a student appearing for exams and said, “Instead of appearing in the exam and securing low marks and failing, it’s better for Bengaluru to bunk the 2025 survey. The pride of the city is in question. Last survey, the city ended up as the fifth dirtiest city. This will directly affect the ‘Brand Bengaluru’ image and also impact the investments in the city”, he said.
By not taking part in the survey, the city may lose some crores from the Swachh Bharat Mission funds. BSWML has taken up many works. But it is better to take part fully prepared, either as one unit or as five different corporations in the next survey, he added.
BSWML CEO Karee Gowda was not available for comments.