Bangalore to be zero-garbage city in six months

The Karnataka government and the Bangalore civic authorities Wednesday launched a drive to make Bangalore a zero-garbage city in six months.

The drive was launched in 22 of the city's 198 wards and would cover the entire capital in six months.

Aimed to encourage segregation of waste into wet and dry at the source itself, the campaign has been aptly named "One house, two bins".

Launching it, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pledged his government's backing to rid Bangalore of garbage.

He said the city with a population of nearly 10 million daily generates 5,000 tonnes of waste, and sought people's cooperation to make the drive a success.

He said the garbage problem has become acute in the recent past, so much so that Bangalore was called a 'garbage city' and not 'garden city' as it was known for long.

The chief minister said he would visit different areas of the city after the budget session concluded this month-end to ensure the drive was a success.

Siddaramaiah also hinted at the possibility of Bangalore having two corporations to manage the city's affairs.

He said the question of dividing the corporation, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Greater Bangalore City Corporation), needed to be considered as Bangalore is now spread over 800 sq km.