Bengaluru: While the residents of South zone are most positive about the services delivered by the BBMP, the citizens in outer areas like Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli are most dissatisfied, concluded a B.PAC survey. It also suggested that since many politicians lived in South zone, the area maybe more developed than other parts of the city.
To assess the citizens’ perception on the quality of services delivered by the BBMP and their priorities for BBMP services, B.PAC, a non-profit organisation, conducted the survey involving over 10,000 respondents. The results of the survey were announced during ‘Bengaluru Rising’ in the city on Tuesday.
The B.PAC conducted the survey between May and June this year in 188 wards, interviewing 50 people (25 males and 25 females) in each ward. But due to data inconsistencies and insufficient responses, the data was collated only for 169 wards.
B.PAC CEO Revathy Ashok, said, “Citizens are mainly concerned about roads, solid waste management, parks and playgrounds, bus shelters and lakes. These were the top five issues in the order of priority. Citizens were less keen to respond on construction-related, building bylaw and maintenance-related issues.”
The survey aimed to find the citizens’ views on the need for BBMP restructuring and, Ms Revathy said, citizens across the city supported palike’s restructuring.
“Newer zones like Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli that are also big IT hubs require greater investment in infrastructure and civic amenities. It is important in making focused interventions specific to each zone. But support from South and Bommanahalli zones was just below average (25- 40%),” she said.
The survey emphasised that an average person on the street does not seem to share the same level of concern as several informed citizens active in civic space and it is likely that relative economic prosperity gives citizens a sense of well being, which masks the dissatisfaction with the level of BBMP services.
The survey also suggested that citizens’ interactions with the BBMP maybe infrequent/limited. Interestingly, 66% of the respondents admitted that they encountered corruption while dealing with the BBMP.
B.PAC vice-president T.V. Mohandas Pai said that Bengaluru accounts for 60% of the GDP of the state and 66% of the total taxes collected, and had the highest per capita income among all the metros. “Karnataka will be Bihar if there’s no Bengaluru,” he said.
Waste converters not working to capacity
“Though there are organic waste converter plants which can treat 5 tonnes of wet waste, they are not being used to full capacity as so much of wet waste is not reaching these plants,” said Jayanagar MLA B.N. Vijaykumar.
Joining other solid waste management experts, like SWMRT founder N.S. Ramakanth, Electronics City Industries Association chairperson N.S. Rama, BBMP Commissioner G. Kumar Naik, Joint Commissioner (Health/SWM) Dr Yatish Kumar and Health Committee Chairman Muzhahid Pasha, Mr Vijaykumar participated in a ‘Discussion on Solid Waste Management and Plastic Free City’. The discussion was moderated by civic evangelist V. Ravichander.
Mr Vijaykumar, said, “The plants in my constituency are not functioning to full capacity as we are not getting 5 tonnes of wet waste. Though people are ready and are sending segregated garbage, it is getting mixed at some stage. Solution to this lies in appointing an officer in every constituency to exclusively monitor that garbage is not mixed. Only when such organic converter plants become self-sustainable, will the problem be solved at the ward level. These plants should get enough garbage and generate more money.”
Speaking about garbage management in industrial townships, Ms Rama revealed that big companies in Electronics City had their own garbage processing plants, whereas ELCIA had rented land for small companies to dispose of their garbage. “Initially, about 500 kg of garbage was treated on experimental basis. Now, we are treating 3 tonnes of garbage and are planning to increase the capacity to 5 tonnes,” she said.
Mr Ramakanth criticised that the BBMP did crisis management during festivals and there was no planning for festival waste management.
Citing an example, he said, “For Dasara, in the Yehalanka zone, we approached farmers in the nearby area and asked them to take our garbage. We ensured that all the festival garbage was sent to the pits dug for this purpose. A WhatsApp group was created and with the help of citizen volunteers, we ensured that there was no garbage crisis in Yelahanka.”
He suggested that the recently inaugurated garbage processing plant in Doddabidarakallu near Rajarajeshwari Nagar was clean and efficient and plants in other wards could emulate it.
Kadu Malleshwara ward corporator Manjunath Raju said that his ward had about 15,000 footfalls during festivals and generated 31,000 kg of garbage during festivals. “Nearly 50 per cent of the garbage in my ward is segregated due to citizen participation and awareness,” he said.
Mr Naik said that there was lacuna in the solid waste management loop and the civic agency was working towards setting new tender rules. “The BBMP is determined to implement the new contract for waste collection and disposal against all odds. We have engaged the best legal minds to work with us on getting the stay order by the High Court vacated.”
He committed that he would work closely with the BWSSB and citizens to resolve lake and sewage pollution crisis in the city.
Mayor, Shaw in minor spat
While explaining his vision for the city, Mayor Manjunath Reddy said that on TenderSure roads, it was important to install right pipelines and unnecessary conduits would be a burden on the government and BBMP. “On Vittal Mallya Road, there is no need for water and sanitary pipeline as Chinnaswamy Stadium does not release its sewage or draw water from this pipeline. The engineers should be cautious, while planning the roads,” he said. “Local residents have complained about this fault.”
Refusing to accept that there was an anomaly, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said that the mayor was being misled by the people. “Many people may say a lot of things to you, but do you have any evidence to prove this? Please talk with substantial proof and don’t simply talk with just hearsay,” she responded angrily. Mr Reddy, however, concluded his speech and did not reply to her questions.
