A community campaign focused on Jakkur Ward cleanliness brought around 500 students, residents, parents and shopkeepers together on Saturday at The Knowledge Habitat School in Jakkur, as organisers began expanding a nine-year school initiative across the neighbourhood.
The event, titled “Hatibat Abhiyanam – A Mission for a Better Tomorrow”, aims to promote cleaner public spaces, responsible waste management and sustainable living through community participation. The campaign plans to organise weekly plogging drives and involve nearby schools, residents and local businesses.
Meenakshi Sheshadri, wife of Greater Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and chief guest at the event, urged students and residents to take responsibility for waste in and around their homes, schools and public areas. She also called for the newly developed road between Jakkur Railway Overbridge and Raitara Sante, or Farmers’ Market, near Yelahanka, to be kept clean.
“I want to encourage and motivate students to keep their surroundings clean, not only at school but also at home. If we find waste on the road or near our premises, we should not wait for conservancy workers to remove it,” Sheshadri said, according to the report.
Bengaluru North City Corporation Commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar said the civic body had taken measures to penalise people who dump waste in public places. He said marshals had been instructed to monitor habitual offenders and that action would also be taken against marshals found negligent in their duties.
BNCC engineers have been asked to install garbage bins at 500-metre intervals to help shopkeepers dispose of waste. The measure is intended to provide designated disposal points along public areas where commercial activity contributes to waste generation.
The Knowledge Habitat School principal Parvathy Seshadri said the initiative began nine years ago as an effort to keep the school campus clean. It has now been extended to Jakkur Ward, with the aim of developing the area as a model ward. Students have approached shopkeepers and residents to seek their participation in the campaign.
The school will organise a weekly plog run and has invited other schools in the area to join. Students Sharvi Arora and Shabd Satsangi said they would participate in the weekly drives. Plog Raja of The Indian Ploggers Army said the event brought citizens, students and parents together around responsible waste management.
Dr Annapurna S Kamath of the BNCC Eco Group said early civic education could help build better waste-management habits. Eco-volunteer Sarada described Bengaluru as being in a “correction and restoration mode” and urged residents to use the campaign to teach children responsible practices.
The weekly plogging drives, participation by nearby schools and installation of garbage bins are the next steps announced for the Jakkur Ward campaign.
