Opposition members raised a stink about garbage bins installed by the
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) at a 100 black spots across
the city, at the council meeting on Wednesday.

The BBMP has
installed these semi-automated, semi-buried bins for wet and dry waste
on a pilot basis. The former Mayors B.S. Sathyanarayana and N.
Shanthakumari took the officials of the Solid Waste Management
Department to task and said all earlier attempts to make Bengaluru a
“garbage bin-free city” had come to a nought, and claimed that the bins
had now become black spots themselves.

Govindarajanagar councillor
Umesh Shetty sought to know who permitted the installation of these
bins at a cost of Rs. 53 crore. Alleging that the council was kept in
the dark over the issue, he charged that officials were taking
unilateral decisions, without following protocol. He sought to know the
status of the bins installed across the city at Rs. 2 crore when G.
Padmavathi was the Mayor.

Responding to the questions, BBMP’s
Joint Commissioner (SWM and Health) Sarfaraz Khan said bins were
mandatory as per Swachh Bharat guidelines and SWM Rules, 2016. “The bins
were first proposed by the State government, following which a proposal
was sent to the Standing Committee for Health. After approval from the
committee and council, e-tenders were floated. We have installed 100
bins so far; the High Court of Karnataka has directed the BBMP to
install 100 more in the city,” he said, and added that the civic body
had yet to pay the German firm. “Funds have been earmarked under the
Nagarottana Scheme. Each bin costs around Rs. 5.5 lakh, plus maintenance
for five years,” he said.

Mayor R. Sampath Raj directed the
Commissioner to instruct the Technical Vigilance Cell under the
Commissioner to conduct an audit on the status and condition of the old
bins installed across the city. The TVCC, he said, should submit its
report within 15 days.

Bins are mandatory as per Swachh

Bharat guidelines and Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.

Sarfaraz Khan,BBMPJoint Commissioner (SWM and Health)