Black spot to beauty spot: Experts say city needs permanent waste microplan

BENGALURU: The trend of drawing rangolis and putting up green nets after clearing black spots in Bengaluru is back. The clean-up and beautification initiatives targeting identified black spots in the city has seen some acceleration, but do they really help in putting an end to black spots? Experts say nah. An infamous black spot at Siddapuras Tippu Point was cleared by Bengaluru Central City Corporation on Sunday. Post the clearance, pourakarmikas drew rangolis and placed tree pots. At places where citizens tend to throw their garbage, turning it into a black spot, corporations are putting up green nets with warning signs. At empty plots and stormwater drains, which have become black spots, such green nets have been put up to prevent people from dumping garbage. Solid waste management expert and founder of Friends of Lakes, V Ram Prasad compared the act of drawing rangolis and putting up green nets with that of a doctor treating the symptoms and not administering medicine to the root cause. No matter how many times the black spots are cleaned up and beautified with rangolis and green nets, they will still dot the city. One-time cleaning and beautifying isnt the solution. What the city needs is scientific microplanning for garbage collection. Each ward is divided into 750 households. Pushcarts, auto-tippers and pourakarmikas are dedicated to collecting garbage from these households, which is later transferred to the main garbage truck for waste processing, Prasad said. Those who do not hand over garbage to the corporation must be listed and checked, he says, arguing that these are the ones who stuff their garbage into plastic covers and throw it, creating black spots. Households which convert their wet waste into compost and hand over their dry waste to collection centres should be lauded, and those who dont must be slapped with hefty fines, said Prasad, who is closely associated with corporations in solid waste management. Waste activist Plog Raja (Nagaraj) of The Indian Ploggers Army said rangolis and green nets are a symbol of community effort, and its heartwarming to see people take ownership of their neighbourhoods. We sincerely wish the community participates in such events along with the civic authorities, he said.