Pic: Shree D N
The city government, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has put out details of solid waste management (SWM) microplan for Bengaluru’s wards. With this public data, you can understand what is working in garbage collection and clearance and what is not, in your ward, and engage with fellow citizens and officials to resolve it.
How to access the information:
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Go to the homepage of the BBMP website: bbmp.gov.in
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Choose the language and go to the department section on http://bbmp.gov.in/en/web/guest/home
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Select the Solid Waste Management section. (ಘನತ್ಯಾಜ್ಯ section if in Kannada)
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Go to the download section – you will see this page.
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Select your zone and then select your ward.
You will now be able to see the key map for your ward, block maps, datasheets and all the details related to daily garbage collection in your ward.
How to make use of the database
There are two sets of data for every auto block: 1) Block Map 2) Demographic Datasheet for the ward.
The Block Map has details of auto numbers, garbage package, the geographical information of streets covered under a particular block.
The demographic sheet has the details like number of households in the ward, number of pushcarts, auto tippers, compactors, pourakarmikas etc allocated to your ward.
Now,
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You can check the key map attached at the end of each ward.
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Check the block name applicable to your area.
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Then download the map file and datasheet for that particular block.
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Check if the details on ground match the data given in the system.
For example, you could find the auto number mentioned in the block data sheet, from the section Primary vehicles – auto tipper. Then you can compare it with the auto that comes to your place. The discrepancies could be reported to BBMP.
An auto block in a microplan covers 750 homes and commercial areas falling within the area. There will be a certain number of Pourakarmikas, auto tippers, compactors, pushcarts et deputed to the entire ward, on the basis of which BBMP will pay the contractor. These details are now public and open to public scrutiny. Look for the same ward-wise data on Opencity.in, to be uploaded soon.
BBMP revamps SWM section on website
Beside this, the Solid Waste Management section on the BBMP website has undergone a revamp, with detailed rule and regulations, complete solid waste management plan for the city, detailed segregation guidelines and posters, Frequently Asked Questions and an option to share your story and other sections, along with the ward-wise microplan data.
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner of Solid Waste Management in BBMP, spoke to Citizen Matters about the revamp. He said that the intention is to bring transparency and to make everybody fall in line including officials, contractors and civic workers.
“The data collection work started two months ago when we began pushing waste segregation at source. Now that the data is before the public, they can cross-verify the information,” he said.
He added that there have been allegations of fake employees working as Pourakarmikas in some wards. Therefore, the BBMP is doing Aadhaar verification of civic workers to avoid duplication while recruiting them, making payment and providing facilities.
People can complain at zonal Joint Commissioner’s office
What can citizens do with this data? Khan says people can call the concerned Joint Commissioner of the zone or the ward engineer and complain if there are discrepancies.
Details for most wards are uploaded on the website, except for 13 wards that did not share the data. “There is a lot of data collection happening for the first time and it will take some time to streamline. We are digitising the microplan with ward-wise data. Civic workers are given half a kilometre stretch on the lines of how the police are given area beat. We are not going to mention the name of the person (civic worker) on each road, because they keep changing. People can complain if the civic worker fails to do his duty on a particular day. Citizen reporting is very important in fixing garbage issues. With the formation of ward committees, I hope citizens will actively report about the issues,” he said.
BBMP IT department helped with GIS mapping of the auto blocks, while ward officials were given a form to fill the information for the ward. Sources said that the data that is made public now was the first-level data obtained from ward officials, and is open to citizen scrutiny.
Suchi Mitras, Master Trainers and citizens in every ward can go through the details and flag the health inspectors and higher officials if there are discrepancies in the data. The complaints can be lodged at Joint Commissioner’s office or with Superintendent Engineers in each zone of the BBMP to which the ward belongs to. This exercise is expected to streamline the already existing system of waste collection in the wards of BBMP limits, with citizen involvement.
With inputs from Akshatha M.
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