A review meeting on the new solid waste management tender in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Photo: GBA
Bengaluru: Thirty packages under the Greater Bengaluru Authority’s (GBA) new solid waste management tender will be implemented over the next two and a half months, and every garbage vehicle will carry a QR code for citizen feedback, a review meeting chaired by Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda decided on Wednesday.
Addressing officials, contractors and NGO representatives, the minister asked them to work responsibly to keep Bengaluru clean, and urged them to work together to remove the stigma the city carries over garbage, according to the GBA’s release.
“We are in a position where we hang our heads over garbage, and the way people look at us has changed. If we do not use this chance to set things right, we will have to face public anger,” Mr Gowda warned.
Phased roll-out
Four packages are to be implemented in the first phase and seven in the second, and seven more in a third phase next month, the release said. Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML) chief executive Karigowda told the meeting that the contracts are being awarded for seven years under 33 packages, with 5,431 vehicles.
He said 100 per cent segregation of waste is mandatory under the solid waste management rules. Attendance is to be tracked through RFID and face recognition, and live data will be monitored through the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC). Contractors who do not provide proper service will be blacklisted and fined within the system, he said in a demonstration.
Directions to officials
The minister gave these directions:
- Bill generation must be fully automated.
- Attendance of pourakarmikas, helpers, drivers and vehicles must be brought together in a single software.
- If vehicle photos, GPS tracking and movement on the 7 fixed roads are managed properly, 90 per cent of the problems will be solved.
- Every garbage vehicle must carry a QR code, and the software must be integrated so that the public can record opinions and complaints directly.
- Vehicles must go to every house, and officers must check that waste from small hotels, shops and bakeries also reaches the corporation’s vehicles, and warn offenders.
- Garbage vehicle staff know which houses or shops throw waste on the road; identifying them and creating awareness can prevent black spots completely, the minister said.
- Wide awareness programmes must be taken up to stop people dumping waste on roads.
“Bengaluru has given us our livelihood. So it is the responsibility of all of us to remove the stigma on our city,” the minister said, calling on officials to play their roles properly and for everyone to join the cleanliness effort.
Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao, city corporation commissioners Ramesh D.S., Pommala Sunil Kumar and Ramesh K.N., Additional Commissioners Kavita Rajaram, Lokhande Snehal Sudhakar and Venkata Chalapathi, joint commissioners, senior officials, contractors and volunteers attended the meeting.
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