Street sweeping and removal of garbage are obligatory functions of BBMP under Section 58(2) and (3) of the City Corporations Act 1976. This is also called solid waste management (swm). A separate department for swm was set up in BBMP in recent years. Earlier, this function was managed by the Health Department.
SWM Policy#
SWM policy is still getting finalized by BBMP under the directions of the High Court. Under BBMP byelaws:
Street sweeping#
Street sweeping is done by “PKs” or pourakarmikas. They are not employees of BBMP. It is learnt that BBMP has mapped out a length of 500 metres to be swept by a sweeper in every ward, but the map is not available on the BBMP website. The sweepers are supervised by 3 or 4 supervisors, who are agents of the contractors who were doing the work earlier. Ward committees can ask health inspectors for the streetsweeping map. BBMP pays the wages of sweepers directly into their bank accounts. Details of payment used to be available under each zone on the BBMP website, but this has now been removed.
Household garbage collection#
Household garbage collection (of segregated wet and dry waste) is done by BBMP from residential buildings with less than 50 households in auto tippers. These tippers are expected to go into streets and collect waste from individual houses. Where streets are too narrow, garbage is collected in handcarts. In slum areas, where there are no proper lanes, tippers are stationed at one point during fixed hours to receive garbage from houses. At present, one auto tipper with one helper and one driver is expected to serve each block of 750 houses. A building with several separate households is often counted as one unit. The maps and details of the blocks can be seen on the BBMP website here.
BBMP has not yet signed tenders for collecting wet waste. You can get copies of work orders issued in your ward from the health inspector to find out which agency is responsible for house to house garbage collection & for which period.
Wet waste is supposed to be taken for composting and dry waste should ideally be taken to Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCCs) in the ward for sorting and sale to recycling units.
Buildings with more than 50 different households, commercial establishments etc. (called ”bulk generators”) have to select a garbage collector approved by BBMP. A person who wants to be registered as a bulk generator should fill up the application form for this purpose here. The rules for bulk generators are available here.
Application form to register as Bulk Generator
As there is a complaint that BBMP garbage collectors spend their time servicing the bulk generators and do not collect household garbage, BBMP is thinking of changing its policy and not allowing agencies which do household garbage collection to be registered for collecting garbage from bulk generators. So far, tenders for bulk generators have not been issued.
Issues that have no financial implications which require no fresh decisions.#
These include garbage thrown around on streets, near bins, vacant sites, drains etc, burning of plastic, irregular garbage collection, non entry of garbage vehicle inside streets, non payment of garbage collectors and so on. Such complaints can be reported on the BBMP help line Sahaya. They should also be taken up in the ward committee. The Health Inspector is fully responsible to see that these are set right. The Corporator should also ensure that the garbage collection system functions as required in the ward.
Issues that require funds and/or fresh decisions.#
Some problems noticed in the ward require decisions at other levels of BBMP. These include policy decisions by the Council, the Commissioner and officers working at the BBMP head office in the SWM department and sometimes other BBMP departments. Occasionally, there could be issues which need action by State govt offices. For example, if there is no DWCC in a ward, a site will have to be found. You will be told that there is no land available, although we have all seen many spots and sites where garbage is being flung . It is BBMP’s duty to identify a site for the DWCC as the High Court has already directed. If the land belongs to the State, BBMP officers and the Corporator should take up the matter with the Tahsildar and the Deputy Commissioner of the District and get it transferred to the BBMP. A site of around 5000 sq. feet would meet the full requirements of a DWCC for a ward, but smaller areas will also be sufficient for a start. It will need a fence, approach road and some structures for workers to sort out garbage. This will cost around Rs. 20 lakhs. Advanced semi-mechanised loading structures will need up to Rs. 50 lakhs.
DWCCs can be run by self help groups of women (SHGs) or some other agency, who are expected to meet their costs from money earned by selling dry waste for recycling. Funds for setting up a DWCC can be provided in the BBMP budget for SWM or taken from discretionary grants of different types.
The detailed budget categories and heads of account for solid waste management can be read in the BBMP budget for payments at item 11. The budget under this head is not allotted wardwise. Some small provisions have been made for some activities which may apply only to certain wards with special problems.
The most important head under solid waste management where provision has been made for paying for garbage collection and street sweeping is “Cleaning and transportation of garbage, toilets and urinals” for which Rs. 375 crs. have been provided for 2019-20. For the first time, in the budget another provision of Rs. 375 crs. has also been made for “Direct payment to outsourced pourakarmikas for SWM (from SFC untied and BBMP grant) Escrow Account”. These are the two heads of account from which payments are being made for streetsweeping and garbage collection. In respect of bulk generators, BBMP makes no payment to any agency and there is no budget provision for this item.
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