Karnataka government to form SPV to handle Bengaluru's garbage problem

The state government has decided to take away the garbage management plan from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and float a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) — a parastatal body to handle waste management.

The decision is aimed at bettering the solid waste management process across the city and plugging possible ‘leakage of revenue’.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday ordered officials to form an SPV within 15 days.

At a review meeting of ‘Bengaluru Mission 2022’ at the Vidhana Soudha, the chief minister acknowledged that solid waste handling was becoming more challenging with every passing day.

He directed the Chief Secretary to hold a weekly review of the SPV after setting up the body.

A few weeks ago, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad had written to the Urban Development Department (UDD), requesting for a separate corporation or agency to handle the city’s garbage collection, processing and disposal methods.

A senior official in the state government told DH that the Special Purpose Vehicle will be constituted as per Section (8) of the Companies Act and can be governed under the newly enacted BBMP Act 2020.

“The body will have the Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department as its chairperson and the BBMP commissioner as co-chairperson. It will also have a CEO and MD chosen by the board, along with two experts from the public,” the official said.

The state government, according to officials, has thought about an SPV in pursuance of provisions under the BBMP Act. There have been reports that the city’s solid waste management, while generating only a small revenue, is a big profit guzzler of the cash-strapped civic body.

“The garbage cess collected along with property tax is only a small chunk of what was spent on garbage processing, which is over Rs 1,000 crore in the last two years. Taking out garbage collection and processing from the BBMP’s control will help the civic body better manage its budget allocation to speed up work on other infrastructure,” they said.