Bengaluru, which shot to fame due to the garbage crisis, has yet another black spot, which has pushed the IT city further down in the recently announced Swachh Survekshan 2018.
Much to the dismay of the civic body, 48 wards across the city are dotted with the open defecation practice, denting the image of Brand Bengaluru.
An inordinate delay in declaring 157 wards as open defecation free (ODF) has also added to the fall on the national ranking.
Working constantly to improve its ranking, the BBMP has left no stone unturned. However, the indifferent attitude of the officials and people’s representatives towards the issue
has come in its way of making it to the top.
According to the documents made available to DH by sources in the BBMP, the civic body had submitted a proposal in November 2017 to declare 109 wards as ODF. However, the file is yet to be taken up for discussion in the council meeting.
As a result, Bengaluru, which could have improved its ranking in the subsequent Swachh Survekshan survey, conducted from January 4, 2018, further slipped by six points.
Even as the Palike is yet to declare 157 wards as ODF, the officials attributed it to the objections raised by the ward committees.
Sarfaraz Khan, joint commissioner, health and solid waste management, BBMP, said: “We had decided to declare 157 wards as ODF. But a few ward committees expressed concerns about the lack of infrastructure to meet the demand.”
Apparently, the corporation is finding it tough to get land to construct public and community toilets in its wards.
“In some wards, corporators helped us to get land. We need to build 2,500 toilet units, comprising both public and community units,” he said.
To declare a ward free from open defecation, the civic body has to provide the sufficient number of toilets, according to the Swacch Bharath Mission’s (SBM) norm.
Had the norms been fulfilled, Bengaluru could have got 32 marks more in the ODF category on the ranking.
An independent survey by Janaagraha, a city-based NGO, in December 2017, revealed the city was falling short of 1,100 public toilet complexes.
According to the NGO, while a few wards had a large number of toilets, many others were lacking in the facility.
| East | 10 (wards) |
| West | 13 |
| South | 1 |
| R R Nagar | 6 |
| Bommanahalli | 9 |
| Dasarahalli | 8 |
| Mahadevapura | 1 |