The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) experiment to appoint marshals to help crack the whip on those littering and dumping garbage illegally yielded ₹8.35 lakh in fine between October 2018 and February 2019.
Those who were dumping construction debris, meat waste, plastic waste, wet waste, and sanitary waste were caught and fined by the marshals.
The Ex-Servicemen Welfare Society appointed the marshals with the assistance of the Army Placement Node. These marshals were initially deployed to keep tabs on the quality of food served in Indira canteens and to maintain BBMP assets there. When they were not in the canteens, they would go out in teams of four or five, accompanied by ward health inspectors, to the spots prone to unauthorised garbage dumping.
“As soon as they would see people go towards these spots to throw waste, they would catch them and penalise them,” a BBMP official said.
The maximum amount of fine was collected from Yelahanka zone — ₹1.86 lakh, and the least from the East zone — ₹45,390.
In Bellandur lake area the marshals collected fine totalling ₹2.08 lakh between May 2, 2018 and June 30, 2019. The marshals checked around 4,616 people, two-wheelers, and three-wheelers in addition to trucks and tractors.
Kumaraswamy Layout had the highest number of cases where people were found throwing meat waste.
BBMP officials said the maximum quantum of garbage collected was in the East and South zones, which include Shivajinagar, central business district, Koramangala, Indiranagar, and Jayanagar. Many of these areas have plans in place for effective garbage disposal.
“The amount of fine collected in Yelahanka zone was highest as the marshals caught people in the act of throwing garbage,” an official said.
Waste management expert V. Ramaprasad said a majority of the penalties were collected for dumping debris from construction sites, and stressed the need for evolving a policy for disposing construction debris.
Hotels and pubs
Hotels and pubs were also penalised for not disposing garbage effectively and dumping it on the roadside. B. Chandrashekhar Hebbar, president of the Karnataka Pradesh Hotels and Restaurants Association, however, said that while many hotels segregate their waste, it was local residents who dump unsegregated waste in front of hotels.
Officials said based on the success of the experiment, the BBMP had decided to appoint over 200 marshals for deployment in all wards. The BBMP has proposed to revise the fine from September.
