BBMP puts ward panels in charge of garbage disposal

Making solid waste management easier for citizens, the BBMP has put ward committees in charge of handling garbage generated locally.

The panels at all 198 wards will now work in tandem with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on solid waste management and sanitation in line with the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Ward Committee) Rules.

The committees will play a supplementary role to the BBMP in implementing the SWM rules and the by-laws in the respective wards.

BBMP SWM 2019 bylaws, a copy of which is available with DH, has included the powers for the committees. The rules will soon be posted for public consultation.

The SWM action plan

The committees will prepare the ward solid waste management (SWM) action plan by considering the ward’s requirements, budgetary allocation and infrastructure needs, aligning it with the ward SWM micro plan and other BBMP policies.

It would assess the type and quality of solid waste generated in the ward, the existing processing capacity, plans for additional processing and facilities. The committee will identify land for wet waste processing facilities, dry waste processing centre/material recovery facility and other decentralised processing facilities for solid waste management. Once it identifies the requirements and targets in the ward action plan, the committee would regularly monitor them for action and compliance.

Unnecessary black spots

“Allowing the wards to handle the garbage they generate would reduce unnecessary black spots,” said Srinivas Alavilli, the co-founder of Citizens For Bengaluru, a civic advocacy group, pointing out that the committees currently handle only public grievances.

Concerned citizens can also form Shuchi Mithras in the wards to monitor and provide reports on cleanliness and garbage collection, besides organizing/taking part in awareness drives and campaigns in their respective wards.

Shuchi Mithras will also frequently meet with the ward committees to ensure implementation of the by-laws and address issues.