From September 1, 2019, the waste collection process in Bengaluru is to undergo a small change. And if any resident of the city fails to follow it, he or she will be forced to pay steep fines.
As per the new decision, taken by BBMP, only wet waste will be collected during door-to-door collection and if anyone is found segregating mixed waste he will be fined. The rag pickers will be picking up the dry waste twice every week.
BBMP Finalizes New Garbage Tenders
Manjunath Prasad, Commissioner of BBMP told media that they have almost finalized the new garbage tenders according to which the contractors will pick only segregated wet waste from each household. Manjunath Prasad that the proposal to hike the fines will be sent for approval to the council of BBMP. Prasad further added, “We are also including this in the Solid Waste Management (SWM) bylaws. The draft has been prepared and will be placed before the committee chaired by the Mayor.”
According to Prasad the aim of BBMP is to achieve 100% door-to-door collection with at least 90% segregation by September. The link workers will keep a track of houses that will not give any waste and will visit such houses to find out why. Hike in the SWM cess to around 15% of the property tax from the current 3% is also under consideration.
Manjunath said, “We are spending nearly Rs. 1,000 crore annually on solid waste management and we get Rs. 50 crore from cess. The proposal to hike the cess will be placed before the BBMP council.” Those having in-situ composting will become eligible for around 50% rebate in the cess.
BBMP & HDFC Bank Tie-Up
BBMP has joined hands with HDFC Bank for the collection of fines. The bank will provide 500 handheld machines for executing the collection procedure. Earlier BBMP had floated a tender for procuring such machines. However, after collaboration with HDFC now the tender has been scrapped. Around 233 marshals and medical officers will be provided with these handheld machines.
These officials have clear instructions to crack down on residents who are found guilty of using banned plastic items. Manjunath believes that “If these measures and conditions specified under the tender are implemented, the city will wear a new look and ranking under Swachch Bharath is also likely to improve.”
The Mayor of Bengaluru Gangambike Mallikarjun has requested citizens to cooperate with BBMP to make these efforts at the segregation of waste a success.
