Black spots in several areas of the city

The deadline was not met by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to remove the city’s garbage spots by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to remove the city’s garbage spots was not met.

Ishan Rathi

Bangalore, October 6: BBMP is launching a new app to deal with increasing garbage black spots around the city, said Senior Technical Advisor.

Under Sections 269 and 283 of the Indian Penal Code, offenders can be hauled to police stations and are charged to pay between Rs. 200 and Rs. 500; in extreme cases, the individual can be jailed for six months.

To prevent the accumulation of garbage on the sidelines, the Solid Waste Management (SWM) cell of BBMP is planning to launch a new app. N.K. Purohit, a Senior Technical Advisor at SWM, says, “BBMP has launched many apps in the past; we are coming up with a new app called Good Samaritan for the people so that the complaints can be registered fast and in one minute, the area supervisor will contact the citizen. The problem will be heard, and action will be taken accordingly.”

The residents complain that the BBMP van has not picked up the waste for more than a week, and the residents face many issues during the rainy seasons. Zuheb Noor, a vegetable vendor in Chickpete, says, “The garbage in front of my shop was supposed to be cleared a week back, but no van came to pick up the garbage, and when asked, they said the vehicle is broken.” He added that he eventually asked his workers in the shop to clean the garbage.

BBMP officials mentioned that the potential reason for citizens throwing garbage on roadsides could be that some people wake up late and throw the trash after the primary collection is done. This can only be rectified if proper knowledge is given to the citizens about when the primary collection van comes.

The government should be stricter with people throwing garbage on the streets, says Rajini Gandhi, founder, and secretary of TRAXX NGO. She said, “The issue of garbage cleaning is the responsibility of both government and citizens. It should be a two-way process, and policies should be made accordingly.” To deal with this situation, cameras are being installed to track and penalize offenders, said Senior Technical Advisor.