TRASHED!

TRASHED!

Door-to-door solid waste collection is meant to be free within BBMP limits. But in various localities in the city, garbage contractors have introduced tariff cards of their own for fees to be collected every month from each house

ATUL CHATURVEDI & SAMEER RANJAN BAKSHI



Every morning you leave the garbage outside your house. A trash collector picks it up, segregates it and dumps it at a point from where garbage trucks transport it to landfills or dumping yards outside the city. The concerned contractor submits bills for garbage collection to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and gets his service charges. This is how it should normally work.
But the ground reality couldn’t be more different. In various localities in the city, on a monthly or weekly basis, contractors collect anywhere between Rs 10 and Rs 60 from each household. Given the fact there are around 10 lakh properties in the city, the trash collectors collectively make money that runs into crores of rupees every month. Bangalore Mirror decided to investigate and here are some of the shocking facts:
Take the case of Mahadevpura. The garbage contractor here collects Rs 60 every month from every house. He does it systematically, even handing out a fee-card to each house to record monthly payments. The card, ironically, is issued in the name of Mahadevpura City Municipal Corporation (CMC), which ceased to exist after it became part of the BBMP three years ago! Prakash, a software company employee and resident of Doddanakundi in this area, said: “I know it is plain extortion but do I have a choice?”
In Dasarahalli and adjoining areas off Tumkur Road, the garbage contractors have issued notebooks to each household. The notebook serves as an entry-book for the collectors. In a majority of the areas that are newly added to the BBMP this problem is rampant. In some places, collections are done on a weekly basis. “If you don’t pay, your trash is not lifted,” said Ravindra Raju, a resident of Jaraganahalli off Kanakapura Road.
PAY OR ELSE...
That does not mean the old areas of Bangalore are bereft of such extortion. In Rama Mandir area in Rajajinagar (ward number 22), a few politicians who are eying the BBMP elections, are now in control of the garbage clearance programme. RAISING A STINK
In fact, a former corporator has gone a step ahead here and come up with his own tariff card: Rs 10 per month for houses, Rs 200-300 for fastfood joints and Rs 500 for hotels. If anyone refuses to pay, the punishment is simple: Garbage is strewn in front of their house.
The residents of the area, mostly middle-class families, claim that they have been paying the amount since the doorto-door collection programme was launched in 2001 under the ‘Swachcha Bangalore initiative. Though many complaints have been made to BBMP authorities, including the West Zone Deputy Commissioner, no action has been taken against the collectors. Residents here alleged that junior level BBMP officials were part of this racket.
In places like Sanjaynagar, the residents are at the mercy of the trash-collectors. V Sathyamurthy, President of Sanjaynagar Residents Welfare Association said: “The door to door collection of garbage in this area has come to a naught. It has never worked well here. The absence of regular collection and removal of bins had made residents throw garbage packets into roadside drains.”
BBMP’S PROMISE
The BBMP, meanwhile, is contemplating implementation of the municipal waste management cess that it had proposed sometime ago. “That would allow the BBMP itself to collect the cess,” an officer said, pointing out that the civic agency pays over Rs 150 crore annually to garbage contractors. On the issue of illegal collection, BBMP Commissioner Dr S Subramanya said: “If anyone is being forced to pay money, they can approach me directly and strict action will be taken against garbage contractors.”
DIRT MATTERS
About 3,500 metric tons of solid waste is generated in the city everyday
By 2013, solid waste is expected to touch 5,200 metric tons per day
Expenditure on solid waste management was Rs 172 crore in 2008-09
The expenditure is expected to touch Rs 257 crore this year
Garbage mafia comprising contractors and officials makes crores of rupees by extorting anywhere between Rs 10 and 60 from denizens