Residents of Defence Colony, Hesaraghatta Main Road, in northern Bengaluru woke up to a pleasant surprise on Friday morning. A garbage black spot along the footpath was cleaned within hours and transformed into a rangoli artwork.
The initiative was taken up by a group of seven pourakarmikas (municipal workers) to raise awareness against garbage dumping. The workers came up with the unique idea as residents had paid little heed to warning boards like 'Don't throw garbage there, will be fined (sic)', said Mamatha, a pourakarmika.
Parvathamma, another municipal worker, said the dumping had been taking place during the night for the past few months. What worsened the situation was that some men were even relieving themselves on the footpath. It was next to impossible to walk on the footpath. The proximity of schools and colleges had no impact on the violators either.
"Street dogs occupied the footpath during the night. They would drag garbage bags and other materials onto the road," said Pavithra Suresh, a resident. "It was a disgusting sight."
Parvathamma hoped that now that the spot had been cleaned, people would not dump garbage on the footpath.
Ramprasad Iyer, a senior citizen from the locality, welcomed the pourakarmikas' unique initiative. "People dumping the garbage should be fined heavily and the civic authorities must instal CCTV cameras to keep an eye on them," he added.