Waste management in Bengaluru has always been a difficult process. Depositing of waste near the roadside late in the nights inside the city is a common sight. Amid its failure to collect the garbage, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is thinking of a plan to levy Rs 200 per month per household as waste collection charge.
DH takes a closer look at how citizens of Bengaluru react to this new development, and what concerns they have.
R Saranya, a resident of Mathikere and a dietician at Ramaiah memorial hospital, spoke about the failure in the existing waste collection system. She said: “Instead of charging extra from each household, fine should be collected from those who don't even bother to dispose of the waste properly by segregating wet and dry waste and littering it around the corners of the road instead of handing it properly to BBMP van which collects garbage.”
About the extra charges, she said, “My guess is a huge amount would be collected by the government through this new tax system. So first, the BBMP has to bring discipline to the already existing garbage collection system, after that they can plan on waste collection charges.”
Manjunath, a resident of Mahalakshmi Layout who is working as Project management officer at Conduent, feels a new user fee system may not be affordable for everyone due to the prevailing economic conditions due to Covid-19 pandemic. He calls the extra fee as outrageous: "In this Covid-19 situation, many people are struggling for the basic needs and any extra charge is not pleasing for the public.”
"I would request not to implement such kind of fee. And moreover, they lack in providing adequate services to the people. Most of the times, they never come to my area or road to collect the waste, and on top of this levying 200 rupees is burdensome,” he added.
Awartha Jagadeeswar Reddy, a resident of Rajashree Layout, Munnekollal feels that this tax system will add to the woes of the people. “As this expense is already included in property tax I feel this charge should not be imposed which would be a burden to the citizens as jobs have become unstable during these pandemic days and many have lost jobs as well. We would highly recommend avoiding the new tax system, as people find it difficult to meet their own personal expenses.”
Vismaya VG, who stays at BTM layout says that first, the BBMP must keep waste bins at public places. “Most of the times, waste collecting vehicles come at different time slots and there are days when we miss these vehicles and will wait till next day for waste collectors,” she says. She feels the Rs 200 fee will not solve this problem.
Bengaluru had huge cement bins long back in 2000s, before the city moved on to the door-to-door waste collection system, reminisces Ramachandra, a resident of Rajajinagar. He says that the bins became a health hazard and had to be removed, as people dumped everything into them. However, he feels the extra fee will make people feel responsible and pay attention to what BBMP is doing.