Bengaluru Needs You volunteer team after a long and satisfying clean-up day!

Swalpa Clean-up Maadi is an open platform for everyone to come together and help get rid of “black spots” in Bengaluru. “Black spots” refer to existing or festering garbage dumps that pose serious health hazards. The aim is to bring about lasting, effective change by engaging and partnering with existing authorities. With the help of youth volunteers, residents, and the ward corporators, the garbage-filled stretch of roads and dumps get transformed into usable, aesthetic community spaces.

The Pourakarmikas celebrating with the Bengaluru Needs You team

By working with corporators, pourakarmikas, the garbage contractor and the community, the team aims to create a sense of ownership in the locals. The team works systematically, starting by observing behavioural patterns and analysing the problem, removing garbage, clearing footpaths and finally adding aesthetic improvements, such as installing grass patches and painting the walls: all involving the local residents and young volunteers in the city.

Thus, Bengaluru Needs You effectively transforms the so-called stench-filled ‘black-spots’, into clean ‘beauty-spots’, with painted benches and green plants along the kerbs. The team also re-visits these spots time to time to ensure that the space remains continually clean and the residents feel a sense of ownership in keeping the spot clean. So far, the campaign has been successfully carried out in 13 prime locations of Bangalore city and has received acknowledgement from citizens and media alike.

See here, here and here for more on the Swalpa Clean-Up Maadi campaign by Bengaluru Needs You.