mavalli

Though he is one of the most important citizen of Bengaluru, the Mayor, is no different from any of us. B S Satyanarayana seems to be working on many things at a time - garbage, potholes and others. Citizen Matters caught up with him to know his views - particularly on garbage. Mayor Satyanarayana inspecting the cleaning and roadwork near K R Market on Sunday Pic: BBMP PRO What do think the term of the mayor should be? Do you agree with the proposal for a five- year term directly elected mayor? Do you need more powers to do your…

Having spent the last couple of months speaking to the residents of Sadashivanagar, convincing them to begin segregating their garbage, I once again joined the pourakarmikas on their Saturday dry-waste collection drive to note what impact my efforts had on apathetic residents, and to adjudge how much more I would have to do to help realise the dream of 100% collection.  The pourakarmikas – who by now had grown accustomed to my company – greeted me with smiles and waves. They informed me that the drive would start a few minutes late due to the early-morning rain which had dampened…

Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWLRT) is reviving their online SWM Green Map of Bangalore. They seek your help in this initiative. The Solid Waste Management Round Table is a group of like-minded organisations and highly skilled individuals who work to build awareness and promote the adoption of best practices in waste management at houses, apartment complexes, schools/colleges and public offices. The Group is currently updating the Green Map (see more at swmrt.com). Do you know of apartments / localities / commercial establishments that segregate waste? Please help us in developing our map and fill in the form below (click on the…

As a part of my work with SadaZero, I was to accompany the pourakarmikas on their Saturday dry-waste collection routine. I had to note down the houses who weren’t following the segregation protocol, and subsequently make an attempt to “convert” them, the latter being a herculean task as mindsets are extremely difficult to change. Sadazero is a voluntary, community organisation, aiming at 100% waste segregation, and making Sadashivanagar a model neighbourhood for the rest of Bengaluru, with whom I have intermittently worked with over the past three years. We rendezvoused at the collection point at 11 am and the drive…

Freedom from garbage. The words have a nice ring to them, which is probably why the BBMP chose the name, KasaMuktha, for its new effort to manage waste in the city. Forced by the High Court to ensure that all solid waste is segregated at source in homes and offices, the municipality is struggling to come up with an alternative that is acceptable to citizens, and works well. Why? Simple. All our earlier efforts to 'manage' trash were built around landfills. Simply collect the trash from the citizens of Bangalore, and take it away to villages outside the city and…