Singapore

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike

Karnataka

Pourakarmikas draw the line at littering on streets For quite some time now, several households in the area would dump garbage along the compound wall of IIM-B. This went on, despite regular garbage collection vehicles from BBMP servicing the neighbourhood.

Techie thrashed for complaining about vehicle parked wrongly The driver of the car claimed to be the son of a senior Fire and Emergency official and threatened the cops and attacked the woman in the middle of a busy junction.

Marshals advice a woman to desist from dumping garbage in public; The team in action: They stay well-hidden to catch a litterbug in the act

marshal

Indira Canteens

tractors

Bangalore

THE FINE LINE

Class act to bridge North-South divide Instead of becoming a language chauvinist, Inspector Rajesh has started offering Kannada classes in HSR layout, with some help from his friends.

By Manoj SharmaFor everyone who said Bengaluru must adopt’s way of imposing fines on those who act irresponsibly in public, may just have their prayers answered.Like Singapore,’s (BBMP) Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad, has sent a proposal to the Chief Secretary (CS)government, to revise the penalty amount for littering, not segregating garbage and dumping garbage in public spaces, besides a host of other offenses.This is after BBMP officials held a meeting with the CS on October 15. The revised fine amounts proposed are Rs 1,000 for littering, urinating and spitting in public places, Rs 5,000 for failure to segregate dry waste by domestic occupier or bulk generator and Rs 25,000 for dumping of building waste irregularly.The revised draft has also proposed to increase the fine amount by 20% every year.In addition to this, the BBMP has also decided to appoint 231 marshals (ex-servicemen) in the city to prevent the public from littering. The marshals will also be empowered to impose penalties on the public if they fail to comply with the rules.One marhsal will be appointed in each of the 198 wards and 33 marshals will be kept in reserve, to substitute for marshals when they are off duty. They will be responsible for keeping the city clean and hygienic by preventing illegal dumping, burning, littering, urinating, defecating, spitting in public etc.The circular released by BBMP Commissioner Prasad read, “Marshals will be deputed to monitor and penalise when waste segregation is not done, at the house level.Marshals will be deputed in wards and have been given powers to penalise the public and vehicles which are illegally dumping waste and creating black spots.Marshals will be deputed to seize plastic bags being sold, stocked in godowns and those carrying bags which are banned as per High Court directions.Marshals will be deputed for night time patrolling in the ward limits to prevent illegal activities related to solid waste.Marshals will be given powers to file cases in the nearby police stations against the seized vehicles violating Solid Waste Management (SWM) rules.With this the BBMP will be spending about Rs 8.5 cr every year on the 231 marshals by paying them Rs 18,500 as an honorary payment. The marshals could also get 5% of the total fine amount collected as incentives. Along with bearing the mobile and fuel expenses of the marshals, the BBMP will spending Rs 55,000 per month on everyAccording to the BBMP, the appointment of all 231 marshals in the city will be made by January 2019. Currently, the BBMP is conducting raids against dumping of garbage in public areas during the night with existing marshals deployed for lakes,and other civic work.According to BBMP data, the Palike has seized about 1023 two-wheelers, 128 three-wheelers, 71 Light Motor Vehicles, 22 trucks, 33, 1688 people being checked, making it a total of 2965 interventions by marshals.Speaking toMirror, BBMP Chief N Manjunatha Prasad said, “The BBMP has already taken all the necessary steps to prevent black spots in public places. But it is also true that public participation is very important in such civic services. Despite many efforts, people have been dumping garbage in public places.Thus we have decided to penalize them with heavy fines and we will also be deploying marshals in all wards by January 2019 to monitor them. We have sent the proposal to the government for approval and it may be approved soon. We have already started conducting operations against garbage dumping in public by involving marshals which has shown positive results so far.”