This is why CV Raman Nagar is getting largely garbage-free

The decision to collect waste during nighttime has enabled the BBMP to outfox commercial establishments in CV Raman Nagar (ward number 57).

The move, brainchild of BBMP Special Commissioner for Solid Waste Management (SWM) and the ward’s nodal officer Randeep D, has prevented businesses from indiscriminately dumping garbage on the roadside and on black spots.

Officials initially focused on the ward’s two main commercial streets. “With no additional cost incurred, we dedicated one auto-tipper to move around at night instead of morning to collect waste so that the same doesn’t result in shops dumping waste on streets or at garbage black spots,” Randeep said. Spreading awareness through marshal vehicles has also helped, he added.

The ward’s junior health inspector Meenakshi said night-time garbage collection that began on October 16 has yielded positive results. “We began collecting dry waste from 8 pm to 10 pm to discourage the street vendors, textile shops and other shops who dump waste on pushcarts parked by the pourakarmikas,” she said.

The positive response has spurred the civic authorities to scale up the operations. “We have decided to assign two auto-tippers from Wednesday. The first will cover the stretch from the entrance of Nagavarapalya to Kaggadasapura 19th Cross and the second, from Kaggadasapura railway gate to Malleshpalya,” said Meenakshi.

Since September 1, there has been a steady rise in the fines collected from commercial establishments for flouting the SWM rules.

As businesses began functioning close to normalcy after the lockdown months of April and May, 146 establishments were fined from September till October 20, totalling up to Rs 8.48 lakh. In June, Rs 4.84 lakh fine was collected from 62 outlets. While the numbers dipped in July to 51 shops paying Rs 4.49 lakh, they rose again in August to 82 establishments paying Rs 5.20 lakh fine.

Hotels, restaurants, Darshinis, coffee bars, pubs, supermarkets, and malls were fined, mostly for not segregating waste and using banned plastic. Pharmacies were punished for blatant disposal of medical waste.

Randeep said business outlets blamed the BBMP for improper collection of garbage for not segregating waste. “In certain cases, the commercial collector does not insist on segregation of dry, wet and sanitary waste,” he said.

Authorities also punished establishments for dumping waste in bulk, commercial tractor waste, discarding animal meat and debris. The zone-wise data of the last four months shows East and South zones had the most violators. Randeep said: “The South, East and West zones are made up of 44 wards each. These zones have the most eateries and commercial establishments which, in turn, contribute to increased violations in terms of non-segregation.”