By Express News Service

BENGALURU: THE Ugly Indian (TUI), a citizens’ forum on a mission to clear black spots, had recently challenged the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to keep the party zones like Church Street, MG Road and Brigade Road clean by 8 am on January 1. But, the civic body cleared the entire area and won the challenge thrown up by the forum. On Tuesday, as part of the challenge — Trashure Hunt — TUI had asked people to spot ‘trash points’ in the party zones and clean them on New Year morning. People who volunteered were asked to take pictures of trash points (at least a 3-feet-wide road qualifies as a trash point). And there were prizes for the most trash spots found, ugliest spot award and more.

More than 40 citizens from Hebbal, CV Raman Nagar, Jaymahal and Church Street took up the trash hunt challenge. The volunteers found two spots where trash was being accumulated. At 9.30 am, a tea stall just dumped its trash on the road and it was later fined by the BBMP. This apart, the entire area was cleaned up by the Palike, much to the pleasant surprise o f c i t izens and TUI members.

The Ugly Indian volunteers pose for a selfie with pourakarmikas after

cleaning up the space at Church Street where revellers celebrated on December 31,

in Bengaluru on Wednesday | SHRIRAM BN, PANDARINATH B

A TUI volunteer said, “If we added up all the litter spotted on the stretch (after 8 am), it would be 8 kg and would fit into one large garbage bag. But here there was no New Year eve trash at all, which we found to be incredible.” A resident of Hebbal said, “We looked for trash everywhere. Searched a lot, but we did not find anything. The street was so clean. It did not look like it was the day post New Year eve.” The TUI volunteers said all credit goes to BBMP Ward 111 health inspector, Santosh Raj, whose team worked all night to achieve the results.

“Hats off to the committed team headed by HI, Santosh Raj and Divisional AEE, Appuraj who worked hard during the wee hours. They reached the spot at 3 am and worked continuously till 7.30 am so that no trash is seen at all. When I visited the spot at 6.30 am, the stretch was already cleaned by them” said Randeep D, Joint Commissioner, Solid Waste Management (SWM). While the TUI was supposed to give ‘awards’ for the trash spots found and the ugliest spot. But it rewarded pourakarmikas and the officials, who worked relentlessly to keep the area clean. They were declared winners of the Trashure Hunt challenge. The forum is looking to hold similar events every month.