No garbage collection in Bengaluru for 3 days
Bengaluru is dealing with a messy situation, literally, as garbage has piled up in 50 wards after waste collection workers went on strike.
The main reasons? Delayed salaries and new rules from the city's waste management company (BSWML) asking them to handle more responsibilities, especially around sorting waste.
The city's usual system is now under serious strain.
Contractors are on strike over new rules
At the heart of it all is a new policy: BSWML wants contractors to make sure trash is sorted before it gets picked up.
But the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) Garbage Contractors's Association says that job belongs to those who create the waste, not collectors, and warned this could amount to a violation of the Manual Scavengers Act.
With both sides digging in, authorities have registered 35 FIRs against garbage contractors, and marshals have lodged complaints under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), the city's trash troubles might stick around unless there's a quick compromise.