BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar has uploaded a video about how quickly his staff can turn around a garbage black spot. It’s worth a watch. Soon after posting this on Facebook, the civic agency chief received scores of responses from residents who wanted him to make over their streets as well.
Posted Sushil Singh with a photo: “This is the state of Hosa Rd junction (near Nagnathpura), full of garbage, plastic for almost 300m. Need your attention, and strict penalty for those who are dumping the garbage.”
Another resident wanted the BBMP to have a Plan B for garbage disposal. Said Venugopala Rao: “If the garbage collectors do not turn up for 2-3 days, please provide a place to dump the garbage. The fault is on BBMP.”
Ganesh posted a screenshot of all the unattended complaints he had posted on BBMP’s mobile app, Sahaaya. They are lying unaddressed despite complaining in September 2019, including garbage dumping. Ganesh’s case is not isolated. Many residents have expressed their dissatisfaction with the mobile app as complaints get assigned to the staff and the cases are closed without resolving them. However, we urge the residents to file their complaints nonetheless as that is the only proof to nail the civic agency later when things go from bad to worse. Even the commissioner keeps telling the people to make an official complaint, so he can take action officially. Therefore, just replying to his social media posts will not do; you have to make an official complaint.
Meanwhile, the BBMP top brass is trying hard to rank high in Swach Sarvekshan, the annual exercise by the central government to declare the cleanest Indian cities.
Though Bangalore was declared Open Defecation Free in September last year, people still use public places as open urinals. Now, the BBMP is using acrylic mirrors to shame the individuals who indulge in this act. This drive will only go on till January 31, the last date of Swach Sarvekshan. After that, they will only continue with the mirrors if the campaign was successful this month.
