Lending ear to 'garbage woes' of Garden City

Palike yet to achieve success in maintaining cleanliness

On Thursday, Deccan Herald will begin a five-part series with focus on the garbage woes of the Silicon City.

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, the civic agency in charge of the bustling metro, appears to have failed to deliver goods on the garbage front.

The Palike began to collect a hefty cess on the property tax towards garbage clearance from this year.

However, there has been no palpable change in the garbage disposal system. Property owners have to shell out up to Rs 50 for 3,000 sq ft residential properties and Rs 500 for commercial buildings above 5,000 sq ft for garbage clearance. The ground reality raises question on the validity of the garbage cess.

From delays in calling for fresh garbage collection tenders to unplanned disposal, the Palike, for most part of the year seems to have failed in keeping the City streets free from garbage. The garbage collection system has given way for a mafia. With a burgeoning population, the Palike is yet to achieve a semblance of success in cleaning the City.

Similar schemes

Corporators, cutting across party lines, have visited Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Delhi and other cities to study garbage disposal system in these cities. However, they have failed in implementing similar successful schemes for Bangalore.

Deputy Mayor S Harish told Deccan Herald that the Palike is all set formulate a long-term strategy to rid the City of its garbage woes. The Opposition in the Palike Council has accused the ruling BJP of failure in initiating the tender process for garbage collection.

“The Opposition has been opposing our policies for the sake of it. From segregation at source to compact lorries transporting them under constant vigil by the Palike authorities, the new garbage tender is looking to provide a long term solution to the waste management problems,” he said.

Apathetic to problems

However, Opposition leader from the JD(S), Padmanabha Reddy believed that the delay in calling for garbage tenders was evidence enough of the ruling party being apathetic to the City’s problems.

“With old contractors losing interest in the task, the City is in throes of garbage problems. Apart from the Mahadevpura zone, where garbage tenders have been floated, other areas still suffer from discrepancies in garbage collection,” he said. But amidst the war of words between the Opposition and the ruling party, citizens are unsure of the Palike efforts being fruitful.

With nearly 3,500 metric tonnes of waste being generated in the City every day, the lack of landfills and irregular garbage collection have left the people in a state of flux.