BENGALURU: It has been long since Bengaluru went from beign a ‘garden city’ to a concrete jungle. Corporate offices, multi-nationals and other industries have set up base here and one would think that Bengaluru has it all.
But, year after year, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been grappling with the city’s mess and it is no wonder that the city is ranked poorly in the annual Swacch Survekshan rankings.
The Union government has launched the Swacch Survekshan app to gauge citizens responses. Of 1.5 crore people living in Bengaluru, a mere five lakh people have downloaded the app, and almost all of them have only bashed the BBMP.
People have complained about not having access to clean public toilets, BBMP’s wasted efforts in collecting and processing garbage, and even the segregation of wet from dry waste. Overall, Bengalureans have concluded that BBMP is not doing much and the civic body just seems to be proving them right.
There are 44 link workers for the app, who visit every house to create awareness about the app and encourage people to share their opinions. Citizens can also give cleanliness rankings, but here too, the BBMP is at the bottom of the table.
A former corporator from Sahakarnagar has also got down to creating awareness about the app, which is helpful for elected representatives too to analyse feedback from their constituents. While Bengaluru struggles with its mes, Mysuru has is consistently being voted in the top ranks.
Indira Subash, a former corporator, said, “The Swacch Survekshan application provides information about how to seggregate wet and dry waste. If everyone did this, our ward would look clean and tidy. We are raising awareness among people. If they use the app, people will understand better”.
As for the link workers, they are expected to ensure that at least 100 people download the Swacch Survekshan app. But people do not seem not to be interested, which has made their task all the more difficult.
Thejovathi, a link worker said, “Swacch Survekshan is going on everywhere. Every city will get rankings. Swachh Bharat and Swachh Survekshana are being conducted since a long time. We have to visit every house and download apps on people’s mobiles. From next month, they will ask for feedback regarding sanitation, public toilets and waste disposal. Most people agree to participate in the survey, but many are not ready. We are convincing the public to download the app and we are making it happen”.