Bengaluru’s hub of New Year celebrations - Brigade Road, MG Road and Church Street - were cleaned up just hours after the revelry ended on January 1.
At 3 am, around 50 BBMP workers collected trash which included over 500 liquor bottles and 150 pairs of slippers and shoes, cigarette butts, and five tonnes of plastic and paper waste, Times of India reported.
The drive by the BBMP was along the lines of the clean-up done at New York's Times Square every year after the celebrations of New Year's Day.
The clean-up drive went on till 7 am and residents in the area were in for a pleasant surprise when they woke up on Wednesday morning. The BBMP Mayor Gowtham Kumar said that the clean-up was led by Shantalanagar (ward number 111) junior health inspector Santosh Raj M, who said that he wanted to surprise residents who usually blame the civic body for the mess created on New Year's Day.
Santosh requested special commissioner (solid waste management) Randeep D to allow him to undertake a special clean-up drive on these roads. He requested one compactor, eight private auto rickshaws and private daily wage labourers since pourakarmikas (civic workers) cannot begin work so early. After the celebrations ended at 3 am and police dispersed people milling around in the central Bengaluru area, the team of workers began their task.
The Ugly Indian (TUI), a citizen volunteer group arrived in front of the MG Road Metro Station at 10 am to start Trashure, an activity wherein volunteers were to locate trash and photograph the same. They were however in for a pleasant surprise as the area was cleaned up and they only managed to gather eight kg of trash, most from roadside shops, Deccan Herald reported.
“A team of BBMP workers cleaned up around 3 am and there was very little trash seen around in the area,” said a volunteer of TUI.