City still not garbage-free, BBMP claims otherwise

Despite the BBMP going overboard to present a spic and span Bangalore before the media on Friday, it was evident that a long-lasting solution to the City’s garbage woes was still a distant dream.

As mediapersons were taken through the well-manicured Padarayanapura, Girinagar
III phase, Hosakerehalli and Basavanagudi South End Circle areas in a conducted tour by the Palike, bits of garbage at the Girinagar bus stand laid bare the facade put up by the Palike to dodge criticism over its failure to address the garbage disposal issue.

The mounds of garbage along the scheduled route of the entourage was apparently cleared following standing instructions issued to the zonal chiefs and executive engineers ahead of the tour. The Palike’s inspection team, that included Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and Commissioner Rajneesh Goel, ensured that the trash piled up in the City’s streets were cleared.

However, volleying questions on the remnants of the mounds spotted around the Girinagar bus stand, which suggested that the cleaning was done in a hurry, the mayor and the commissioner said it was “freshly dumped by the locals.”  

The Palike commissioner attributed the partial success to proper garbage segregation and clearing of waste from the secondary collection points in the City.

He invited the citizens to help the BBMP in achieving better success rate by registering complaints with their helpline and uploading pictures on the BBMP website.

Palike officials said the number of photographs of garbage piles uploaded daily has come down by 300 in the last two days. “We used to receive at least 700 pictures of garbage each day. But after a strict instruction from the Palike top brass to clear the garbage, it has come down to 400,” a BBMP official said.

Sources said the tour was purported to expose some lax officials in the east zone. “We had identified certain lax officials earlier. However, to their good fortune, garbage was cleared overnight from there.”

Meanwhile, the mayor admitted that though garbage might not have been removed from the City’s streets entirely, piles of waste may have come downto two to three per cent in the past weeks. The Palike now intends to keep a strict vigil on garbage clearance from the secondary collection centres.