Waste is treasured the world over, with segregated garbage being used in recycled products, compost that makes natural manure, to produce biogas and even generate electricity. In Bengaluru, waste piles up on the streets and pollutes our lakes, with the authorities’ only response being to have it carried off in trucks to landfills, where it contaminates the earth around it.
His mission is to clean up Bengaluru and his mantra is "segregate at source,” a concept that the BBMP is trying its best to popularise.
At 78, Mr N.S Ramakanth is hard at work to persuade people to segregate their garbage in their homes and offices and hopes to return to Bengaluru its title of 'Garden City' that has been eclipsed of late by the other more degrading label of “Garbage City” that it is finding hard to shake off.
A true blue Bengalurean, who did his BSc degree from National College, he went on to do his mining engineering from Benaras university, before going overseas for work in different countries, including Germany. Although he spent 30 years away from Bengaluru, his heart clearly continued to beat for it as on his return in 1989 following his voluntary retirement as chief engineer in a German company, he began to devote much of his time to making it the beautiful city he once knew it to be.
Having become accustomed to the clean roads abroad, it was not surprising that he was taken aback by the garbage strewn on Bengaluru’s streets.
“From then on I started working with Resident Welfare Associations and formed a team of like-minded volunteers to fight the garbage menace. Today, we conduct workshops, awareness campaigns, and hold plays to spread the message of garbage segregation. The key to winning this battle is segregation at source and scientifically managing garbage disposal," says Mr Ramakanth, who is in talks with the government to appoint engineers at waste processing plants to make sure they work scientifically.
He has also successfully demonstrated environment-friendlyways to handle waste generated during the Ganesha festival and Diwali, when the city sees idols being immersed in its lakes and crackers going off on its streets, leaving it with piles of rubbish and has played a crucial role in getting the government to ban plastic and plaster of paris Ganesha idols that hugely pollute the environment.
Dismissing the idea that garbage is 'waste,' Mr Ramakanth insists "garbage is gold.” And to prove it he has a band of volunteers, who collect tonnes of festival waste like plantain leaves, pumpkins and flowers and dump them into pits for making of compost that is later distributed among farmers.
“There is so much we can do with the garbage. People are now coming up with plans to extract biogas out of it too,” he points out.
But like most Bengalureans he too laments that although tackling garbage supposedly tops the agenda of the BBMP and the High Court has approved slapping of fines on people, who don’t segregate waste at source or litter the streets, in reality little action is taken and most are merrily allowed to make the city as dirty as they please.
“I do hope that the BBMP appoints marshals to monitor garbage segregation and slaps fines on the who don’t to help Bengaluru march towards being a garbage -free city in 2017,” he concludes with feeling.
