The Hindu           08.02.2017 

Waste segregation: Outer areas outperform core zones

A cadre of around 3,000 RWA members has been deployed to monitor
implementation at various levels.— Photo: K. Murali KumarK_MURALI_KUMAR
 

BBMP officials attributed the gap to the ‘good habits’ of citizens living on the outskirts

Almost a week after the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)
made yet another attempt to get residents to segregate their waste,
those in the outer zones appear to be outperforming their counterparts
in the core areas.

The segregation percentage in the outer zones,
including Mahadevapura, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bommanahalli and areas
such as Yelahanka, was between 60 and 65% until Sunday.

On the
other hand, the figure in the core city zones was less than 35%, though
some of them saw a slight improvement from the first day figures (east
improved from 27% to 32%, the south and west from 17% to 25%).

BBMP officials attributed the gap to the ‘good habit of segregation’ that exists in the outer areas, among other things.

“People
in the outer zones have been segregating waste much longer. There are
pockets in the core zones that are segregating. But the core zones have a
large number of slums where segregation is not happening,” said
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management and Health,
BBMP.

The other areas that are lagging behind are the markets and densely populated areas, including Avenue Road.

“On
Avenue Road, for example, there are shops on the lower floor and houses
on the upper floors of buildings. In such areas, accessibility is an
issue,” he added.

With the palike announcing a penalty for
households that do not segregate, BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad
said health officers are being prepared to execute the exercise.

Other
measures are being taken to step up segregation. Among them is pressing
360 link workers into service at the rate of almost two per ward. “They
will visit houses that are not segregating waste. We are checking the
progress in each zone every day. Officers, including myself, visit
various mustering points (there are 600 in the city) at 6.15 a.m. to
educate pourakarmikas on segregation,” Mr. Khan added.

A cadre of
around 3,000 residents welfare association (RWA) members has been
deployed to monitor implementation at various levels — zonal, ward,
Assembly constituency and block. “We will be issuing identity cards to
them soon as many complained of resistance from violators as they did
not have a formal designation,” he said.