It was another day at work for Lakshmi (name changed), when she went from house to house collecting waste. But last week, shortly after the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) started its segregation-at-source drive once again, she was in for an unpleasant surprise. An argument with a resident over him handing over mixed waste ended up getting physical, and finally in the arrest of the resident.
“She said she was pushed by the resident. So we arrested him and charged him under section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty),” said a police officer of the Austin Town station.
If there has been anyone at the receiving end ever since the segregation-at-source drive was restarted by the BBMP from February 1, it is the pourakarmikas — the people on the field who bear the brunt of the ire of citizens who do not want to segregate their own waste.
“Some of them insist we do it. Out of 100 houses, there must be around 10 actually segregating their waste. This is not all; sometimes they throw the bags from the third floor when we are collecting waste. Some others leave the bags near the gate, which street dogs tear apart and mess up the area. We end up cleaning that too,” said Bhaskar (name changed), another pourakarmika.
Starting work at 6.15 a.m., they deal with the city’s ugly side. “I no longer collect waste from houses; I have to clean the footpaths. But those who don’t want to hand over waste to the BBMP simply dump it on the roadside and footpaths,” said Shekhar, who works in the HAL Airport area.
The BBMP top officials too admit that pourakarmikas are having it tough, though the success of the segregation exercise rests heavily on them.
“They are the best people to tell citizens to disseminate information; but we have been getting complaints of how some citizens tell them that they have to accept the waste in whatever form,” said Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management, BBMP.
He recalled “inhuman” instances such as a resident accumulating the excreta of his dog for over a week and asking the pourakarmikas to collect the entire lot.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said segregating mixed waste was the citizens’ job, not the pourakarmikas’. “We have heard about them being attacked or abused. I have told them that they can give us details of the people in such cases, instead of reacting to it, so that we can handle it,” he said.
Empowering them
With pourakarmikas becoming easy victims during the segregation drive from errant residents, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is giving them a weapon for self-defence: a notebook.
“They have been asked to note down the house number of residents who are showing resistance to segregating waste so that a team from the BBMP will be able to visit them separately,” said Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad.
Pourakarmikas will also be ‘marking’ houses similar to how it is done during the Census. Those marked red will signify resistance, green will be marked against houses diligently segregating their waste, and orange will be for those who are not resisting segregation, but need guidance.
