BBMP goes shopping for lakh bags, quietly

By Y Maheswara Reddy

Mayor Gangambike is clueless about Palike’s mushy for one lakh jumbo baggage, 2,000 pushcarts for pourakarmikas

One of the reasons why side road waste is left at the back of in mounds, only to be scattered once more as soon as the pourakarmikas (conservancy employees) sweep the road, is because they don’t have apparatus to assemble and delivery it to its vacation spot. But necessity is the mother of invention. And you’ve observed this with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) pourakarmikas who display great ingenuity in developing DIY makeshift carriers for side road waste, in the absence of garbage baggage. Some days it’s plastic mats, on which side road waste is deposited and pulled like grounded magic carpets to their vacation spot. On other days, it might be discarded cardboard cartons or pushcarts, to transport leaves, bottles, paper, and other issues that people throw on the street. However, this would soon be a thing of the previous. The BBMP is operating on a mega plan to acquire one lakh jumbo baggage for selection of side road waste in Bengaluru.

On Friday, the BBMP floated a tender to post Expression of Interest (EoI) to offer one lakh jumbo baggage and a couple of,000 pushcarts. The ultimate date for submission of EoI is June 15. However, Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun is at nighttime about this plan to acquire one lakh jumbo baggage.

“I'm really not acutely aware of the plan. There are round 15,000 conservancy employees but I don’t know what the Solid Waste Management (SWM) division will do with one lakh jumbo baggage. It is a waste of money. I will enquire with the officers involved,’’ says Gangambike Mallikarjun. According to Sarfaraz Khan, BBMP Joint Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), the BBMP has decided to acquire jumbo baggage for the reason that conservancy employees are reluctant to use the pushcarts. “These baggage don't seem to be dear. Each of the bag can be utilized for 20 to 30 days to assemble side road waste,’’ says Sarfaraz Khan.

When asked about not keeping the Mayor in the loop, the Joint Commissioner has stated that Mayor was once acutely aware of the plan of buying jumbo baggage.

I'm really not acutely aware of the plan. I don’t know what the SWM division will do with one lakh jumbo baggage. It is a waste of money.

–Gangambike Mallikarjun, Mayor

“I think the Mayor is acutely aware of it. If she isn't, I will tell her,’’ the Joint Commissioner stated.

Meanwhile, JD(S) chief in the BBMP Council, Netra Narayan, has described the plan to acquire jumbo baggage as waste of money.

“The Solid Waste Management officers have not knowledgeable me concerning the plan to acquire jumbo baggage. I think it is one of the ploys to make cash than to mitigate garbage issues in the city,’’ says Netra Narayan.

Expressing a identical opinion, Right to Information Study Centre Managing Trustee S Amaresh has stated the BBMP officers will have to not waste tax-payers’ money.

These baggage don't seem to be dear. Each of the bags can be utilized for 20 to 30 days to assemble side road waste

– Sarfaraz Khan, BBMP Joint Commissioner (SWM)

“Their plan is to make cash. The BBMP officers have no imaginative and prescient apart from misusing the tax-payers’ money,’’ says Amaresh.

However, Nalini Shekar, a social activist and co-founder of Hasiru Dala, stated that one lakh jumbo baggage are needed for conservancy employees. “The government involved would possibly have held discussions amongst themselves prior to taking a decision on buying one lakh jumbo baggage,’’ says Nalini Shekar.

It’s not just the Mayor who has been stored at nighttime. Chairman of the BBMP Standing Committee on Public Health, A Muzahid Pasha, is aware of not anything of this. Says Pasha, “I am acutely aware of buying pushcarts since this is a steady procedure however the information of buying one lakh jumbo baggage is information to me.

The BBMP officers have not knowledgeable me about it. I have to investigate with them.”