As part of a new initiative dubbed Kasa Surisuva Habba or “garbage-dumping festival”, aimed at making Bengaluru “free of garbage blackspots”, the civic agency is targeting habitual offenders through public shaming.
Published Nov 02, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 02, 2025 | 9:00 AM
Many of residents questioned the rationale behind the GBA’s “collective punishment”, which they say penalises even those complying with waste norms.
Synopsis: A new initiative dubbed Kasa Surisuva Habba, or the “garbage-dumping festival”, launched by Bengaluru’s civic bodies—in which waste is deliberately dumped outside the homes of residents identified as “habitual litterbugs”—has evoked a mixed response from residents and experts. While the civic administration claims the campaign will deter offenders and promote accountability, many citizens and experts argue that it amounts to collective punishment which worsens the city’s already dire waste crisis.
In Bengaluru’s Banashankari, residents woke up to an unusual scene on Thursday, 30 October. Workers from the municipal bodies responsible for collecting and processing the city’s trash were instead dumping it on their streets.
The reason? Some households in the area had been identified as “habitual litterbugs” by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) and Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML).
As part of a new initiative dubbed Kasa Surisuva Habba or “garbage-dumping festival”, aimed at making Bengaluru “free of garbage blackspots”, the civic agency is targeting these offenders through public shaming.
“Despite repeated awareness campaigns, the menace of littering continues to plague the city’s streets. To tackle the problem, GBA and BSWML have decided that those caught throwing garbage in public places will have piles of waste dumped right outside their homes and will be fined,” the GBA said in a post on X on Thursday.
Bengaluru East City Corporation (Zone-1), Ward No. 84 – Hagadur:
Despite repeated awareness campaigns, the menace of littering continues to plague the city’s streets. To tackle the problem, Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) and Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd (BSWML) pic.twitter.com/qzUSTMHJjI
— Greater Bengaluru Authority (@GBA_office) October 30, 2025
More than 190 houses across the city were identified in the enforcement drive, which will be conducted every week.
But the unusual enforcement drive has drawn a mixed response from residents, many of whom questioned the rationale behind the GBA’s “collective punishment”, which they say penalises even those complying with waste norms.
“We dispose of waste in the right manner. It is not our fault that our neighbours did not do the same. Why should we wake up to trash on our streets?” one resident asked.
“Instead of penalising only the offenders, the authorities are punishing other citizens in the neighbourhood. The civic body should instead focus on improving collection systems and holding repeat offenders accountable through fines and better awareness campaigns,” Kiran, another resident told South First.
Many others felt the drive could worsen the garbage crisis in the city.
Bengaluru generates around 4,500 metric tonnes of municipal solid waste each day, according to a 2021 study. With an estimated population of over 1.2 crore in 2025, that amounts to roughly 0.3 kilograms per person.
Less than 60 per cent of this waste is collected, while only about 15 per cent is processed. The rest ends up in landfills.
The city was ranked the fifth dirtiest in the country in the over-one-million population category in the Swachh Survekshan 2025 survey.
Earlier this month, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said he had “moved heaven and earth” to fix Bengaluru’s garbage crisis but claimed that “mafias” were derailing the city’s progress.
All of this has led citizens to question why they alone are being made to shoulder responsibility for the crisis.
“The street was fully clean the morning that the GBA officials came to carry out this enforcement drive,” said Kiran, who lives a few metres away from the house where the GBA dumped garbage as a form of “punishment.”
He said the stench from the pile reached his home as well. “The tipper trucks in our area come just once a week. Several of us miss the trucks because we go to work. So the garbage gets piled up in the house,” he said.
Other residents agreed that dumping garbage on the streets was not the solution and called for stronger policies to address the littering problem.
“The GBA should focus on making garbage collection smoother and more consistent instead of spending money on such publicity drives. They could, for instance, introduce live tracking of garbage trucks so residents know when to expect them,” said Vineeth, a resident of Banaswadi.
He told South First that when GBA officials dumped garbage outside a few houses in his neighbourhood, several arguments broke out between residents and officials.
The pile of waste—a mix of wet and dry—remained there as residents negotiated with the authorities. “Only after several hours did the pourakarmikas remove the garbage from there. Isn’t it additional work for them also?” Vineeth asked.
Some citizens also took to social media to ask whether they could, in turn, dump garbage outside ward offices, pointing out that civic officials and contractors themselves often leave debris from drain cleaning and other waste piled up along the roadsides.
When GBA can dump the garbage.. when they leave the debris from drainage cleaning for weeks together . Can we dump it in front of the ward ofc.. @ChristinMP_ @GBA_office @GBAChiefComm @BellandurJothge @SarjapuraRWA it has happened in kasavanahalli and no response from ur team pic.twitter.com/RWNhW4s4vI
— Prasad Sampangi (@Prasad19721) October 31, 2025
Environmentalists and activists who have long advocated better waste management in Bengaluru were similarly critical of the GBA’s new initiative.
“If there is dumping of waste on roadsides, it means that the door-to-door collection is failing,” said Sandeep Anirudhan, environmentalist and convenor of Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru.
He stressed the need for a proper audit to understand why the system is failing and to take corrective measures.
Urban expert and scientist Ashwin Mahesh explained that in many cases, contractors themselves dump trash on roadsides instead of taking it to transfer stations or landfills.
“If they dump trash in front of a person’s home, there is another home on the opposite side of the street, and two other homes next to the one who is littering. Why should all these others endure the sight and smell of trash being dumped in front of them?” he told South First.
He recalled that the now-defunct Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had introduced a similar form of “punishment” in 2011 against individuals who had not paid property tax.
The civic body had deployed officials to beat drums outside the homes of defaulters. The issue reached the Karnataka High Court after the BBMP beat drums outside Wipro’s office over alleged tax evasion.
Criticising the civic agency for its “naming and shaming” drive, the court said: “In the 21st century, you [BBMP] behave in an uncivilised manner by beating drums in front of their office. However, when it comes to your response to their objections, you hardly file anything and seek more time to respond.”
Mahesh said there is no legal provision for imposing such punishment. “If it is challenged in a court, the government will have to stop that practice,” he said.
However, some experts believe that the unusual move could help generate media attention and raise awareness among citizens about littering.
“Neighbours should cooperate. Even they will become wary and can check if households in the area are littering,” said Dr Shanthi, a member of the Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT). She also noted that garbage black spots continue to appear even in areas where collection is carried out regularly.
“If the GBA is carrying out this drive in areas where collection is not regular, then citizens can start complaining to corporation officials about it. This is how the drive can help,” she told South First.
Still, she acknowledged that this measure alone will not solve the problem.
“The GBA needs to collaborate with civic activists and form volunteer groups to identify which households are not dumping waste properly. But this is definitely a good step,” Dr Shanthi said.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
