To clamp down on illegal disposal of garbage, the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has started dumping back waste in front of the houses of those who litter the streets.
On Thursday, as part of a new campaign, the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) dumped garbage outside the residences of 190 such violators.
Pommala Sunil Kumar, Commissioner, Bengaluru North City Corporation, said, “Households and establishments dumping garbage along roadsides or in open spaces were identified. In these cases, waste was dumped back in front of their houses and penalties were imposed as per the rules. To prevent roadside dumping in the future, the Corporation has launched a public awareness drive, urging citizens to hand over segregated dry and wet waste to auto-tippers that visit their localities at designated times.”
According to a BSWML official, fines between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000 are being imposed on violators.
Bengaluru resident Rosa S Sudha wrote on X, “I am feeling proud of the @GBA_office @GBAChiefComm for taking this initiative and as citizens we should be supporting them to keep our city clean.”
But unlike Sudha, some others criticised the GBA for the move. Rajesh Naidu, a resident, said, “By this logic? Can people dump construction debris in front of the GBA office for not painting proper roads? Feeling sad for poura karmikas. They are going to clean this mess. GBA should put heavy fines instead of doing this. More burden for poura karmikas for officers’ laziness.”
A R Zahid said, “First send the garbage vehicles daily… If you send the vehicles, then why will people dump garbage on the road?”
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Earlier, Bengaluru had garbage dumping bins across the city, but the bins were removed after they started getting stolen. Those who were unable to hand over waste to garbage collection vehicles used to dump garbage in the waste bins.
Techie Surendra M C said, “My work ends at 4.30 am. The garbage collection vehicles come around 7 am, and I will be sleeping by then. I don’t have a choice other than dumping the garbage. This is not just my problem, but many others also face it.”