As dust level rises, so does demand for mechanical sweepers from residents

Nine machines not enough; BBMP faces stiff opposition in its quest to procure more

December 14, 2017 12:53 am | Updated 04:32 pm IST - Bengaluru

BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 22/05/2017 :  Demonstration of  Heavy Duty and Mini Mechanical Sweeping Machines, during the launch infront of Vidhana Soudha, by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), in Bengaluru on May 22, 2017.  Photo K Murali Kumar

BENGALURU - KARNATAKA - 22/05/2017 : Demonstration of Heavy Duty and Mini Mechanical Sweeping Machines, during the launch infront of Vidhana Soudha, by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), in Bengaluru on May 22, 2017. Photo K Murali Kumar

Mechanical sweepers may have faced much opposition from the city’s councillors and a section of pourakarmikas who fear job loss.

The machines, however, have been a huge hit among residents who now want them to be deployed in areas where Namma Metro and other civic works are currently under way. By absorbing dust and mud, mechanical road sweepers are an effective means to tackle construction-related pollution.

Groups such as Whitefield Rising and Outer Ring Road Companies’ Association (ORRCA), both hit by ongoing civic works, are just two organisations fighting to get mechanical sweepers to clean their streets.

ORRCA has written to the BBMP Commissioner requesting him to deploy the machines at least during weekends to clear the backlog of dust in the area. Whitefield Rising has asked Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to issue directions to BMRCL to vacuum clean all the roads where works related to Namma Metro are on.

Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management, BBMP, said that apart from ORRCA and Whitefield Rising, he had received several requests from residents in the core city area as well to deploy these machines.

Presently, BBMP has only nine mechanical sweepers each of which can clean 50 km in eight hours at night. “We want to have 41 more such machines to cover 2,500 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads in the city,” Mr. Khan said.

However, Mr. Khan’s plans to bring in new machines has been met with criticism from councillors, and not just from the BJP. Bringing in mechanical sweepers will reduce the number of pourakarmikas, senior officials allege.

BJP has also accused the civic body of corruption during the procurement of the nine mechanical sweepers. In response, the civic body, instead of purchasing 41 mechanical sweepers, is trying to rent them at an operations and maintenance cost of ₹4 lakh a month.

However, this proposal has to be approved by the council, an uphill task given that councillors are opposed to the idea of mechanical sweepers and that an earlier proposal to buy more machines has been pending for over six months now.

Pollution levels rising, say citizens

Uma Narayan, a resident of Whitefield said that ever since Namma Metro work began in the area, Particulate Matter (PM) levels have shot up exponentially. “I have been suffering from swollen eyes for the past several days. Pollution levels are very high in the early mornings, which made me discontinue my morning walk,” she said, adding several people from the area, especially those already suffering from respiratory issues, were the worst hit.

A handheld PM-measuring device recorded PM 2.5 at 240 (standard: 40) and PM 10 at 268 (standard: 60) in the garden of Anjali Saini, a few km away from Namma Metro work, on the morning. Unable to take it any longer, Whitefield Rising mobilised ₹40,000 from the residents and rented out a mechanical sweeper last week, planning to vacuum clean a 23-km stretch. But the amount of dust on Nallurahalli Road and Kundalahalli Gate, where mechanical sweeping was taken up, was so high that they ended up spending ₹33,000 just to clean 4.25 km.

“We tried helping ourselves, but couldn’t. BBMP has to prioritise areas suffering from high PM levels owing to ongoing civic works like Namma Metro. Manual sweeping cannot control PM levels from ongoing works. It’s criminal that the city has the resource, but is not deployed where it is needed,” Ms. Saini said.

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