Bulk waste
Shyam Padhi, a citizen volunteer and resident of Whitefield, said his complex negotiated a rate of Rs 200 per flat per month. “In the past, our apartment used to incur a monthly cost of around Rs 50,000 after processing some waste in-house and composting it. We are now paying close to Rs 1.5 lakh per month for all categories of waste,” he said. The issue had earlier drawn the attention of Bengaluru development minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who urged agencies not to charge apartment residents more than Rs 8 per kg and promised that more vendors would be empanelled to prevent a monopoly.
Bengaluru Navanirmana Party founder and general secretary Srikanth Narasimhan said residents should be allowed to choose from among multiple agencies rather than being tied to the vendor assigned to their corporation. Some residents said there has been an improvement in the situation, but only after consistent negotiation and monitoring. it was gradually streamlined with the intervention of active citizens and corporation officials, he said While the arrangement initially faced friction between the company and local vendors.
“We are not opposing regulation. BSWML should set standards and hold vendors accountable, but it should not decide whom residents must pay when multiple qualified providers are available,” he pointed out. Padhi added the situation improved compared with May after bulk-waste vendor Mukka Proteins onboarded local vendors to help with collection.