Bengaluru’s civic body — the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) — has fresh plans to monitor black spots or open places that are likely to be used to burn garbage. The civic body will be installing CCTV cameras in 2,415 ‘garbage vulnerable points’ across the city at an estimated cost of ₹ 22.32 crore. Once the action plan is ready, the BBMP will float tenders for the same.
The BBMP got a go-ahead from the Urban Development Department in June this year. A command control centre will also be set up. Sarfaraz Khan, BBMP Joint Commissioner elaborated that the CCTV cameras at these spots will be linked to the new command control centre which will be ready in the next six months. “We are aware of the fact that CCTV cameras are not the only solution but it tells us who is throwing the garbage,” added Khan.
A part of the grant provided under the 15th Finance Commission will be utilised for tracking other applications of solid waste management. The civic body will also conduct a survey of waste generators to come up with better measures of waste collection by involving a third-party agency. Notably, this is not the first time that the civic body is spending money on installing CCTV cameras at black spots.
In 2018, the BBMP spent ₹20 crore to install more than 2,500 CCTV cameras to monitor disposal of waste in public areas. However, reportedly, none of the cameras are functioning.
