Firms plan trash bins to keep City clean

The KR Market clean-up initiative, in the last couple of months, seems to have inspired some private firms to work towards a cleaner Bangalore.

Organisations like Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) and companies like Toyota have held talks with Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to instal trash cans in the main market areas of City. “It is the corporate social responsibility that they are undertaking. Even though this does not involve large-scale participation, nevertheless, they are showing their support for the welfare of society at large,”  BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana told Deccan Herald.

Although Bangalore as a garbage-free city has been a distant dream, it certainly remains a dustbin-free city. Many of the arterial market areas of City have been short of dustbins as part of BBMP plan to keep it dustbin-free. Shopping hubs like Mahatma Gandhi Road, Brigade Road and Commercial Street have pedestrians and passersby throwing garbage in the road corners. The fact that these areas are replete with eateries makes it worse, since a lot of people choose to munch while they shop, further disposing of wrappers and plastic bags wherever they wish, for lack of a probable dustbin. While the initiative was to make City garbage-free eventually by collecting waste without letting it get accumulated, this has only worsened the situation.

“The reason we have made Bangalore dustbin-free is because we do not want anything and everything thrown on the roads. Restaurants and eating outlets must have their own dustbins outside their outlets so that people do not litter the streets. Citizens must think about cleanliness before they throw stuff on the roads. The attitude to treat the City as one’s own is lacking,” said MLA N A Haris.

“A large number of people visit these busy areas every day. It is disappointing that there are no dustbins installed in such commercial spaces. Private participation will certainly improve the situation and more such coordinations should take place between the public and private sectors,” said Raghu, a student.

As of now, pourkarmikas sweep and clean up major areas periodically every day. “The pourkarmikas cannot be everywhere, so the initiative will help in making Bangalore a little more clean. Things will be taken up in an authorised manner, with the consent of BBMP,” the commissioner added.