BENGALURU : The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), is resisting the idea of using hoarding and billboards to raise awareness on covid-19 for aesthetic reasons, which counts as a lost chance to engage the community and battle misinformation against the virus, say officials.
The city corporation fears that using these hoardings would spoil the “look" of the city even though the Karnataka High Court permitted the government and BBMP to use available spaces to create awareness and share other important information about the disease.
“It mars the aesthetics of the city and may lead to the return of advertisements on these hoardings," said one official, requesting anonymity.
The BBMP is instead mooting for door-to-door visits by volunteers to raise awareness that could further exacerbate the shortage of workforce in Bengaluru that is one of the worst affected regions in the country with nearly 90,000 cases so far.
One of the biggest challenges that the B.S.Yediyurappa-led state government and his counterparts in other parts of the country face is the stigma and misinformation around the virus, which in many cases, has led to ostracism, victimisation, refusal of services and even denial of burying the dead.
The decision goes against the Karnataka government’s strategy to engage the community and officially communicate safety protocols to counter information--or misinformation--on social media that adds to its growing number of challenges
“There is no outreach or communication to the community," a senior government official said, requesting not to be named.
The official cited above says that the information department could have used this opportunity to spread messages and allay any fears citizens might have that would help it in its battle. The move, the official cited above said, would complement its crowdsourcing strategy, bring in more volunteers that would improve the understanding of the challenges of the government in dealing with the pandemic.
One of the worst affected regions in the country with over 2.2 lakh cases,the problems for Karnataka has only grown in recent times with heavy rains,floods and landslides that adds to the hardship of the calamity-prone state and its fledgling finances.
The battle against covid- 19 has also suffered due low number of testing, near extinct practice of contact tracing, inadequate healthcare infrastructure and serious lack of coordination among other issues.
Multiple lateral bodies created by the government to contain and deal with the surge in Bengaluru have been working in isolation, at least two other senior government officials say.
The government has divided Bengaluru into eight zones and each is headed by a minister and at least two senior administrators that is leading to a mismatch in efforts and results, officials and political leaders say.
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