BMC reaches out through social media for clean Mumbai

To keep Mumbai clean the BMC is not only inviting citizens to lodge complaints about garbage in their area, but also intends to have regular interaction with them on a special page, created on social media, for the solid waste management (SWM) department. The move highlights the need for public participation in waste management.

According to BMC officials, during a meeting additional municipal commissioner Dr Pallavi Darade asked SWM officials to make use of Facebook and Twitter for day-to-day interactions with Mumbaikars, which finally led to the BMC, creating its official Facebook page (Solid Waste Management, MCGM) and Twitter handle (@MCGMswm) An official from the SWM department said that the Facebook page could help citizens understand how the department functions and important aspects of clean-up by laws that define the rules and regulations on littering and other issues. Apart from all this citizens can also lodge complaints regarding garbage collection, dumping and other issues in their neighbourhood.

Started on October 5, the Facebook page is being handled by SWM officials to highlight problems of littering, and build awareness using short animations and skits performed by well-known Marathi actors and SWM staff. "We also want to make maximum use of social media to initiate interesting and creative campaigns under our Clean Up drive. We want it to become the talking point in the city. Hence, we felt the need to hire an expert firm to manage social media for some time. The BMC has invited tenders for the appointment of such a firm," said an official.

"Earlier, the most common tool the SWM department used to communicate were through the pasting of posters in public places and street theatre. However, now a majority of the population is hooked onto social media. So, we are utilising this medium to spread awareness about our department and asking people to keep Mumbai clean," said another SWM official. He added that social media could also help create positivity about the SWM department, which is much criticised and never appreciated for its efforts.

Additional municipal commissioner Dr Pallavi Darade said, "We urge people to use the page created to tell us about problems regarding the SWM department. We also want resident groups to post about the good work they do to clean up garbage and other initiatives at the local level."

She added that they also want to actively use social media to tell Mumbaikars about the painstaking work done by the SWM department, which manages around 10,000 metric tonnes of garbage daily, generated by the city.