BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) collected Rs 3.4 crore as penalty for solid waste management violations in 2021. They include disposing of mixed waste, throwing garbage in open areas and not segregating muck.
Though Bengaluru bagged Swachh City award in the Swachh Survekshan 2021 survey, the city reported over 1.3 lakh SWM violations.
Documents with BBMP accessed by TOI revealed that south zone contributed the highest number (48,513) of such violations, followed by east zone (41,698).
“Some areas like Sudhamnagar, Sunkenahalli and Banashankari are constantly disposing of mixed waste. People in this zone are often caught throwing muck in empty lands,” said a senior marshal from south zone.
Another marshal from east zone said: “Manorayanapalya, Kavalbyrasandra, HBR Layout, Bharathinagar and Ulsoor are among the areas where people don’t segregate waste, while in localities like Domlur, Jeevanbima Nagar and Kadugondanahalli, techies and office-goers tend to dump waste in empty sites and open drains, especially at night, on the sly.”
Among other related violations, the city recorded 8,412 incidents of spitting in public places and a penalty amounting to Rs 8.5 lakh was recovered from violators.
Palike officials regretted that acts like spitting in public continued unabated, though the city is in the grip of the third Covid-19 wave and civic groups have been campaigning against it.
“Radhakrishna Temple ward, Manorayanapalya, JC Nagar, SK Garden, Lingarajapura, Maruthiseva Nagar, Kacharakanahalli and Konena Agrahara are among a few other areas where cases of spitting are on the rise,” the marshal added.
“Earlier, there were posters put up about mask enforcement, social distancing, hand hygiene and spitting, but enforcement needs to be intensified,” said Odette Katrak, founder of Beautiful Bharat, which advocates a nationwide mission to get public spitting banned.
“It is very interesting to see that 8,000 people have been penalised for spitting in public. This shows BBMP is taking serious measures to ban this menace,” Katrak added.
Colonel Rajbhir Singh, chief marshal, however, said any crackdown against spitting is a tough task. “It’s a split-second activity and very difficult to catch the culprits in action,” he pointed out.
According to the documents, 2,813 people were penalised for urinating in public and 1,400 for open- defecation.
Harish Kumar, special commissioner (SWM), BBMP said collaboration between marshals and citizen groups across the city has helped spread awareness about waste management.
Sarfaraz Khan, joint commissioner, SWM, said the biggest achievement over the years is reduction in plastic usage. “A joint meeting was held with senior health inspectors and we told them to penalise anyone using plastic in order to completely stop its use,” Khan said.
“Use of plastic has come down drastically, but it has to stop completely. People need to understand the importance of not disposing of mixed waste, not spitting and urinating in public...,” Kumar added.
