Garbage city Bengaluru is 214 in Swachh rankings

BENGALURU: Bengaluru earned the tag of Garbage City quite a few years ago. And if you look at the Swachh Survekshan awards announced on Thursday, you will know that the City has made little efforts to shake off this dubious distinction. The State and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike hoped Bengaluru would fare better this time. But the City’s ranking has actually slipped by 20 spots from last year. The City ranks 214 among all cities in garbage management.

Its national ranking is 37 in the category of population over 40 lakh in garbage management. It has also got the ODF++ rating. And in Karnataka, BBMP is recognised as the Best Self Sustainable Mega City, in the Swachh Survekshan 2020 awards, announced by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad told TNIE that among 4,242 cities, Bengaluru ranked 214.
D Randeep, BBMP Special Commissioner, Solid Waste Management, said the city scored less because of multiple reasons. He said GPS was not installed in all garbage collecting vehicles, there were not sufficient dustbins to manage waste in commercial places, tenders for waste management were not in place and citizens participation was only 50% against what was expected.

Another senior BBMP official, seeking anonymity, did not mince his words. “Bengaluru got a 0 out of 1,000 in a garbage-free city. There is no policy or direction on how to go ahead in waste management. The age old saying — Too many cooks spoil the broth — fits Bengaluru’s BBMP and its councillors. No one worked in unity and the result shows. The corporators want their say, the Commissioner wants his way and the Mayor has another direction,” he said.

This is the reason why hand-holding by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) committee has helped cities like Mysuru, Tumkuru, Hubballi- Dharwad and Mangaluru and they have done better than Bengaluru, the official added. An NGT Committee member said: “Despite having detailed discussions with BBMP, it was evident that there was not much interest. Bengaluru’s biggest problem is its legacy waste. Other cities also have it, but they have brought it down to 1 lakh tonnes.

But in Bengaluru, it’s over 40 lakh tonnes and still they don’t know what to do. Cement industries are ready to take waste for energy generation, but the corporation does not want to fund transportation. Councillors and the corporation run parallely. The City lacks political will in waste management.” S Ramakanth from Solid Waste Management Round Table said that there are best models available in the City, but implementation on the ground is minimal. At individual levels like at an event (Aero India or Global Summit for example) or festivals, garbage is managed, but the overall waste management is poor, he said. Initially garbage segregation was good, but later dropped to 50% and now even further, he added.

Janaagraha recognised by Union ministry 
The city-based NGO, Janaagraha, was recognised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Thursday for its Swachh Bharath Mission. It was one of the eight development partners felicitated by the Centre during the awards, for being one of the most active and key partners of the ministry. Janaagraha CEO Srikanth Viswanathan said they are proud and privileged to support the Swachh Bharat Mission through the Swachhata mobile app. “For us at Janaagraha, this is a huge validation of the role of citizen participation in our cities and of the role of civic technology in facilitating it,” he added.