When the new mayor took over he said his first priority would be cleaning up of garbage but it remains the biggest challenge for the corporation.
Solid waste management continues to remain one of the biggest civic challenges faced by Bengaluru. Segregation of garbage at source is still not happening much, waste management plants are still being readied and the existing units cannot cope with the city's estimated 4,000 tonnes of garbage a day. Dumping of organic waste after festivals makes the situation worse.
NDTV took a tour of some parts of the city and found garbage piled up in City Market, Russell Market and on Dispensary Road, close to one of the city's shopping hubs, Commercial Street. In the market areas, where a huge amount of organic waste is generated, we saw it was mixed with plastic. Households were also not segregating waste the way that they should and are disposing mixed waste.
Near Commercial Street, we saw cows eating plastic waste that had been dumped but not cleared.
Deepak, who works at a shop in the area, confirmed that the piles of rubbish were always there. "I have been working here for eight years. It is always like this. They talk of Swachh Bharat but Bengaluru is a main city. So much dirt and smell, I have never seen it clean," he said.
When the new mayor took over he said his first priority would be cleaning up of garbage but it remains the biggest challenge for the corporation.
After any festival there is sadly more dumping of waste, and we did see corporation workers trying to clean up the mess. But they are not able to cope with what the city produces.
The administration says it is aware of the problem.
"We didn't get the Smart City tag for many reasons. The problem of garbage is the main reason why we did not get the Smart City tag," said Mayor BN Manjunath Reddy.
But the combination of inadequate response from the administration and the apathy and lack of civic sense of most of its citizens means the sight of piles of garbage is not going away any time soon.