The BBMP’s ‘Segregate at source or pay a fine’ has become a constant refrain in the city, which is struggling to manage its solid waste problem. The BBMP’s advertisements have inundated mainstream media, but very little change happens on ground, with even pourakarmikas unaware of the process. The civic body continues with awareness drives, its spate of failures notwithstanding, but Bengaluru clearly needs more substantial implementation measures for a change to actually happen.
With the city’s garbage troubles refusing to go away, the BBMP has now begun putting more pressure on Bengalureans to segregate their waste into wet and dry starting February 1. While it has threatened to slap fines on those who fail to fall in line, the ultimatum does not seem to have fetched it any better results. But ask its Joint Commissioner of Solid Waste Management, Sarfaraz Khan and he claims segregation of waste has gained momentum on the outskirts of the city and has crossed almost 60 per cent in these parts. While maintaining that the BBMP east zone too is faring well, he admits that the south and west BBMP zones have achieved only between 15 and 20 per cent success and blames it mainly on the presence of slums in these two zones.
Although this could be partially responsible, the other culprit appears to be lack of awareness as the BBMP's campaign to spread the word on the need for segregation doesn’t seem to have helped much. Even now several ordinary people don’t seem to be aware of its diktat or how it can help in the total management of garbage.
Read | Q & A with Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management
Says Ms Rekha Sathyaraj, a resident of Chaluvadipalya ward, "We still don’t know much about segregation. We simply hand over our household waste to the pourakarmikas who come every morning. If the pourakarmikas do not come, we dump it at a nearby corner where everyone dumps their waste. If we are educated on garbage segregation and its advantages , we are ready to do it.”
While lack of awareness is a huge problem, Ms Swarna Venkataraman, vice-president of the Indiranagar 1st Stage League, protests that the pourakarmikas too are to blame as they mix up the waste even if it is segregated while collecting it.
"The BBMP always asks residents to segregate their rubbish and threaten to fine them if they don’t, but what action is it taking against pourakarmikas who mix up the segregated waste, the commercial units which fail to comply and garbage contractors, who do not care about segregation?. If the BBMP only wants residents to fall in line and ignores erring contractors, commercial units, mini-trucks and civic workers, how can it expect significant improvement in garbage segregation?" she asks pertinently.
Marshals are considered the panacea to curb garbage menace
In its fresh enthusiasm to deal with the city’s garbage mess, the BBMP plans to hire marshals to make sure people segregate their waste at source. But with over a crore of people spread over 800 sq. kms, will hiring one marshal per ward as planned, make any significant change to the way garbage is handled in the city ?
Ask Mr N S Ramakanth, member of the BBMP’s Solid Waste Management Expert Committee, and he believes it will.
“The move to depute retired army officers to maintain the city’s cleanliness is inspired by Mumbai, where no one is seen spitting on the road or openly defecating on it as they are immediately fined. We need similar strict enforcement of the segregation law in Bengaluru," he contends, adding, "I have been fighting for this for many years and have convinced the courts that we need to hire marshals to enforce garbage segregation.”
Although Mr Ramakanth batted for two marshals per ward, the BBMP has agreed to allot only one marshal for each of the 198 wards, but he is optimistic they can still play an effective role in managing the city’s garbage.
Recalling that in a span of just months, the retired marshals in Mumbai managed to collect over Rs 6 crores in the form of fines imposed on people spitting and urinating in public places, he believes once the marshals are introduced in the BBMP area, double this amount can be collected in fines in the city as they will not only be enforcing garbage segregation but also the ban on plastic, littering and urinating in public places.
“Retired marshals are likely to be strict in their actions and and honest as well. Although for now the BBMP has decided to appoint only one marshal per ward, their number can be increased based on how they help the city tackle its garbage menace," he maintains, explaining that the fines collected from citizens failing to segregate garbage can be used to pay the salaries of the marshals without placing any additional financial burden on the civic body.
