Bengaluru, 14 July

Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said that the government will launch a month-long ‘Freedom from Waste’ campaign from 1 August to clear garbage from the City’s roadsides. Gowda chaired a meeting with officials from his former Revenue Department and GBA Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao on Tuesday.

The campaign aims to clear garbage dumps, debris and waste from across the City. There are 1,616 locations across GBA limits already identified where garbage and construction debris have accumulated, officials informed the meeting.

“A comprehensive plan should be prepared to organise the campaign with the objective of completely removing garbage, solid waste, construction debris, soil mounds, weeds and other waste materials,” Gowda’s office stated. “Toenhance Bengaluru's cleanliness and aesthetics, the City Corporations, K-RIDE, Railways, Metro and other departments should coordinate and jointly implement the campaign.”

The government urged property owners to clean their own vacant plots of weeds and garbage within a month. If the premises are not cleaned by 15 August, the government would undertake the cleaning work and then recover the entire cost from erring owners.

Gowda also directed officials to remove unauthorised banners, and warned that people “re-encroaching on footpaths” after the ‘Safe Footpath’ campaign would face double the fines.

The review meeting also focused on property records and tax collection, and Gowda directed officials to begin doorstep distribution of e-Khata deeds to around 23 lakh properties. Gowda also directed officials to crackdown on hoardings, and urged officials to ensure that the properties across the tax net are added, including through the use of drones.