The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Where citizens put their hearts in the job

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Where citizens put their hearts in the job

SELF-HELP IS BEST HELP: A scene in Mahadevapura. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: What are the civic agencies in Bangalore doing to change the ugly face of the Garden City?

Do we have sufficient landfills for the mountains of garbage generated every day? The Public Eye team examines the problem, highlighting some of the citizen initiatives on garbage disposal.

6.45 a.m. A non-descript but clean bylane falling under the Mahadevapura City Municipal Council (CMC) on the outskirts of Bangalore. The early morning silence is shattered by an announcement from a loudspeaker mounted on an autorickshaw. It asks people to be ready with their garbage. The garbage collectors — women members of a Stree Shakti self-help group — wheel in their pushcarts and collect the segregated garbage door-to-door.

11 a.m.: The entire CMC is cleared of about 90 tonnes of solid waste. The garbage has been moved to secondary containers that will be transported later in the day to a landfill in Cheemasandra villageafter the recyclable wastes are segregated.

The scheme involves a modest user charge collected from residents starting at Rs. 20 a month — a small cost for residents and owners of commercial establishment to pay for a clean neighbourhood and environment.

This experiment was launched by the Mahadevapura CMC in March 2006 under the Nirmal Nagara project.

Not only has it shown the way to providing an effective garbage disposal system for the two lakh population of the CMC, it is a community initiative that employs over 150 members from 31 SHGs.

The women, who are all from the Below the Poverty Line families, earn Rs. 3,000 a month.

Says former CMC Commissioner Chikkavenkatappa, who planned the project: "Each of the 31 groups into which the area is divided earns around Rs. 30,000 in user charges. Compliance levels are high as violators are fined and a public announcement is made. In fact, more than Rs. 20,000 has been collected as fine from violators since the launch."

The solid waste management initiative launched by the Residents Initiative for Safe Environment (RISE) of HAL 3rd Stage was hailed as a model when launched in 1997. RISE built a 1,500-strong network of families to participate in solid waste management.

The neighbourhood composting unit functioned well for over eight years and even received appreciation from international agencies. P.K. Venkataramanan, former group coordinator, however, said the initiative ended in 2005 when the contracts for garbage lifting were awarded to a private contractor.

Tired of petitioning the civic bodies to attend to the problem of garbage clearance, the residents of BEML Layout 6th Stage off ITPL Road have employed a private contractor to lift garbage from their area. Initially, 550 families in the area initiated a garbage collection programme, which had to be given up as disposal became a problem. A new and mechanised garbage disposal system will be implemented from February 1, and the BMP is now pinning the success of the new venture on citizen participation. "The new contracts will have very high standards of implementation and enforcement will be our prime concern," BMP Commissioner K. Jairaj says and adds that periodic performance audits keep the contractors on their toes.

Cess

The BMP will soon start collecting Solid Waste Management cess from residents. It will collect the cess though Bangalore Electricity Supply Company. Mr. Jairaj said he would meet Energy Minister H.D. Revanna soon to discuss the mode of collection.

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