Citizens ridicule cleanliness award to Bengaluru City Corporation
The award was instituted in alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a garbage-free country under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, according to a statement by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs.
Residents of Bengaluru are having a field day on social media after the city corporation was reported to be among eight other municipal bodies to have won a Union government-initiated award for cleanliness.
“BBMP wins award for ‘keeping Bengaluru clean’ | This is the biggest joke on us citizens! A municipality who has failed to keep our city clean for decades wins an award? Citizens need to hold them accountable with rallies,” Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the chairperson of Biocon Ltd said in a post on Twitter.
The award was instituted in alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a garbage-free country under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, according to a statement by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs.
The results will be formally announced at a ceremony to be attended by President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, on November 20.
From surveying around 73 major cities in 2016, 4,320 cities have participated in 2021, according to the statement, which adds that it has become the world’s largest cleanliness survey.
The Union government said that over 50 million people have been part of the citizen feedback survey which marked an increase from last year’s 1.87 crore.
“The 2021 edition was conducted in record time of 28 days despite several on-ground challenges owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. There have been significant on-ground improvements in performance of states and cities, as compared to the previous year,” the statement added.
The award comes at a time when unseasonal rains have exposed the fault lines in planning--or the lack of it-- by inefficient civic authorities including the BBMP which has continued to burden the common citizen of a city that aspires to get global status for its prowess in technology, start-ups, knowledge, biotechnology and aerospace among several other sectors.
BBMP’s ineffective administration has led to flooding in almost all parts of the city due to the heavy rainfall, forcing motorists and pedestrians to bear the suffering of commuting on the poor quality of roads.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had said that the government had spent ₹2000 crore or just under $3 billion for road work over the last five years, with the civic authorities having nothing to show for it.
Bengaluru generates around 5000 metric tonnes of garbage everyday but most of it is collected by civic workers with their bare hands and transported in unhygienic conditions to landfills or segregation centres. A significant portion of this garbage is left on roads, which raises the threat of infectious diseases especially considering the adverse impact after the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, Bengaluru won the best sustainable Mega City award.
