Citizens dump garbage on beautified black spots

Efforts by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to beautify the black spots by drawing rangolis did not yield positive results as citizens continued to dump garbage.

On the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava, the civic body joined hands with The Ugly Indian and other volunteers to hold a rangoli festival with an aim to clear at least five black spots in each ward. It covered around 800 black spots.

However, citizens were seen dumping garbage right where the pourakarmikas had drawn rangolis to stop people from littering.

Pourakarmikas cleared garbage from the black spots identified with the help of junior health inspectors. Once the garbage was removed, the pourakarmikas and residents began drawing rangolis. BBMP officials took part in the festival along with members of ward committees and residents’ welfare associations.

Speaking to DH, BBMP Additional Commissioner (Health) D Randeep said: “This initiative received good response from the public. We made sure the garbage dumped on the black spots is cleared within 48 hours.”

“But some continued to dump garbage and littered the road. We engaged the marshals and penalised the offenders,” he added.

The Ugly Indian group had trained the civic body officials and pourakarmikas to beautify the black spots.

A volunteer from The Ugly Indian said: “Rangoli is a great way to prevent garbage dumping and wipe out the black spots. This (initiative) is creating awareness among people with support from the BBMP and their staff.”

The volunteer said if people become aware that they should not litter the streets, it would be possible to reduce the garbage black spots to a great extent.