What happened to the grand idea of city-wide solid waste management training?

BENGALURU: In the month of May, a small group of experts trained about 250 volunteers in the workings of Bengaluru’s solid waste management process. The attendees would become master trainers and in turn teach pourakarmikas, shuchi mitras and RWAs about their roles and responsibilities in cleaning our city.

It was the beginning of BBMP’s most promising (and ambitious) plans to overhaul the waste management in the city.

Over four months later, these master trainers are now still waiting for the trainings to start. Sunil Sood, an eco warrior in Jayanagar, is one of them. He was eager to become part of the solution to the city’s biggest problem, but is now disappointed as there has been no news of the training after that day.

He said, “We are all ready to do our part, but the original plan seems to have been forgotten. It is sad,” said Sood, who among many other eco conscious people, volunteered to become a master trainer.

“The training was meant to bring awareness to citizens about the structure that BBMP has laid out for solid waste management,” explained Seema Das, a member of Bangalore Eco Team. Next, the trainers were to connect with their respective ward officers and set things going in their wards. That did not happen.

Joint Commissioner of Solid Waste Management Sarfaraz Khan confirmed that the plan to conduct trainings has not been dropped. He partly attributed the delay to his holding the additional charge as the Joint Commissioner of Yelanka: “I wasn’t able to do too many things while holding an additional charge. Now that a new JC has been appointed for Yelahanka, I will be able to concentrate on this.”

Recently, BBMP announced that the existing system of garbage collection will give way for a more decentralised system where garbage collection for every block (750 houses) will be done by one auto tipper and overseen by a Shuchi Mitra. It is called a micro-plan.

The training, explaining what every person needs to do, what happens if they do not, and establishing points of contact will go a long way in making the micro-plan project a reality. Khan said that the plan for one block was ready and added, “We have a meeting coming up. We are going to take it forward from there.”