In a desperate bid to ensure segregation of waste at the disposal and crack the whip on the callous officials who fail to ensure segregation of waste at the source, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has prepared ward wise ranking index and initiate action against officials in the respective wards that have scored low in the ranking.
Confirming the move, D Randeep, Special Commissioner, (Solid Waste), BBMP told DH that the objective was to assess every ward and hold them accountable for keeping the city clean. "The national ranking is an annual affair. But we will have a monthly ranking index. The zones, divisions and wards will be evaluated under the new index and assessed for maintaining cleanliness on a day-to-day basis," he said.
As per the data made available by the BBMP, segregation of dry and wet waste reached almost zero in as many as 35 wards. As a result, the entire waste generated from these wards are directly sent to landfills (quarries) without being segregated despite the guidelines. The new ranking system will help the civic body initiate action against health inspectors who fail to ensure segregation. In the recent Swachh Survekshan, BBMP had slipped from 194th to the 214th position.
Randeep further added, "The wards that have scored well have been given appreciation letters and we are mulling to introduce financial incentives. "But those who perform poorly, will be served with notices seeking an explanation. If there is no progress subsequently, the jurisdictional junior health inspectors will be held responsible and transferred or suspended."
The BBMP will assess the wards based on the quantity of waste (wet and dry) collected in each ward, extent of wet waste sent to the processing plants, total number of trips made by tippers from plants to the ward and fine levied by the marshals for failing to segregate.
Interestingly while Bommanahalli (Ward 174) has secured the top spot in both the ward and division category, the west zone topped the chart in the zonal rank. Similarly, the East zone, Chickpet Division (South Zone) and Shivajinagar (Ward 110) secured last place. Some of the wards such as Nagawara, Jalahalli, Malleshwara, DJ Halli, Lingarajapura, KR Pura, Devasandra, Basavanapura, Jayamahal, Sampangirama Nagar, Sarvajna Nagar, Neelasandra, Vannarpet, Ulsoor, Dharmaraya Swami temple ward, Sunkenahalli, VV Puram and a few others reported zero percentage of segregation.