Bengaluru is in a sweeping mess

Inadequate number of machines has resulted in irregular cleaning of roads. Lack of funds for new machines will only aggravate the situation. Lack of dumping spots has added to the problem.

Bengaluru: When the city of Bengaluru sleeps, and the roads go silent after 11 pm, it is time for mechanical sweepers to swing into action. Before the next dawn, the vehicle staff diligently take photos before and after the operations and post them in the WhatsApp groups meant for the Mahadevapura Zone of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

This is the routine in one of the most active zones with five mechanised sweeping machine vehicles. Bengaluru has 26 such machines deployed in various zones according to the length of arterial and sub-arterial roads in the zone.

Bengaluru has arterial and sub-arterial roads of 1,344 kilometres. Some are six-lane roads, some are four-lane, and some are two-lane roads. Heavy traffic makes manual cleaning of bus routes and high-density corridors impossible. There have been instances of Pourakarmikas dying on duty on high-density corridors.

Cycle length is the number of kilometres swept with a machine. In two-lane roads, it is double, and in four-lane roads, it is four times the length of the road, as the machine sweeps one lane at a time. The current cycle length is 5400 km for the 1344 kms.

Of the 26 mechanical sweeping machines owned by the BBMP, eight are truck-mounted, and 17 are self-propelled. There is a standby vehicle that is deployed for breakdowns and VIP movements.

Each machine can store up to five cubic metres of dust and is supposed to sweep 40 kms of cycle length every night. About 250 kms, amounting to 1000 km of cycle length, is supposed to be covered with these machines daily.

Machines sweep roads every night. It picks up anything on the roads, including dust, plastic, and paper. But it does not pick up stones and other things measuring more than 10 mm.

 If machines for particular routes break down, other machines are deployed on those routes. There were audit objections from the Comptroller Audit General of India and state audit departments on the working and management of sweeping machines. 

‘More machines needed’

In the Yelahanka zone, two sweeping machines sweep about 20 km daily, amounting to 40 kms of cycle length every night. The zonal officials have made a list of roads to sweep, and every road is swept twice or thrice every week on rotation.

Silt is less on the roads that are swept daily. But now, in Mahadevapura, the same road is covered only once or twice a week. The same practice of sweeping the roads rotationally continues across the city. Clement Jayakumar, Secretary of Mahadevapura Taskforce, a citizen initiative, says that vehicles can move fast and clean the road properly if the silt is cleared daily.

Roadside parking causes a challenge for sweeper machines. Vehicles parked on roadsides obstruct their function when they begin operations at 10 pm. The officials have now asked the vehicles to initially sweep the central median side and go for the sides after midnight to minimise the issues caused by parked vehicles.

BBMP’s engineering section has divided the Mahadevapura zone into two sections —KR Puram and Mahadevapura. The former has two machines, while the latter has five machines.

“We cover bigger roads like Old Airport Road or ITPL roads at least once or twice a week, but inner roads remain unattended due to a shortage of machines. BBMP Pourakarmikas do not sweep these roads due to traffic and threat to their lives, so having more machines can help us keep the major roads clean,” says an official.

Jayakumar says this applies to the Mahavadevapura zone as well. He estimates that the zone needs another 20 machines just for arterial roads.

No system to dump silt

The Mahadevapura zone is buzzing with construction activities, including metro routes and buildings. Ward roads are not asphalted, which adds to the road dust. As a result, the amount of silt on the road is very high.

Machines are supposed to cover 40 sweeping km per night. But they end up covering anywhere between 25 to 30 km per night because of the amount of silt on roads, which affects the vehicle’s speed, says Jayakumar. 

The second reason is that temporary dumping locations are unavailable in each ward. For example, the Mahadevapura zone has only one location where the silt is dumped. The time and distance required to go to this location add to the delay, and the machines cover less distance. 

“They can do three dumpings in one night, but they end up doing only one dumping because of this,” he says. Jayakumar monitors the sweeping mechanism in the Mahadevapura zone from a citizen’s perspective.

He adds that construction dust management is another neglected issue that makes mechanical sweeping less efficient. The construction sites should be barricaded, and the vehicles should be covered with their tyres clean so that no dust comes out. The confusion between BBMP, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and the traffic police about handling this has contributed to increased road dust.

He says that various government agencies dig out the roads, they do not fix them properly, contributing to road dust.

A source, preferring anonymity, says it is tough to find dumping places in the inner zones like East and West, as the real estate is very expensive.

Where does the waste go as per BBMP? “It goes into private low-lying dumping places. The driver has to identify such places and empty the road dust and silt there. Pollution control board clearances are not needed for this,” says B S Prahlad, BBMP Chief Engineer (Road Infrastructure).

BBMP mulls renting machines

The tender was floated to purchase self-propelled machines, the agency supplied vehicle-mounted machines. There was also confusion regarding conflicts among manufacturers and the department handling it. The road sweeping was earlier handled by the solid waste management division of the BBMP, but now the Major Road section is handling it.

In September 2022, the BBMP floated tenders to procure 51 sweeping machines at an estimated cost of Rs 84 crore. The state government’s Shubhra Bengaluru, Chief Minister’s Nava Nagarothana programme and Centre’s 15th finance commission would fund this purchase. Each machine was estimated to cost Rs 1.64 crore.

However, DH reported on Thursday that the Rs 80 crore earmarked for buying sweeping machines under the 15th Finance Commission programme of 2021, 2022, and 2023 was redistributed to other works.

Now, the BBMP is considering renting the mechanical sweeping machines, looking after only operations and maintenance, to cover all the 1344 km of roads. The BBMP needs another 73 machines to cover all arterial and sub-arterial roads. BBMP will handle this in the Clean Bengaluru section under Brand Bengaluru.

“BBMP buying these machines means more capital investment. The BBMP is into operation and maintenance; it should not get into capital investment as property tax is insufficient to manage this,” says Prahlad.

The BBMP has outsourced the operations and maintenance of the vehicles to an external agency. The tender for this will end by February end, and there is no clarity yet regarding the future of the tender. Sources say the BBMP currently spends around Rs 1.22 crore monthly on this, and the plans have no clarity yet.