In this also I would like to share the experience of MGP in trying to help the corporation in solving the garbage problem. MGP has been at this problem for so many years. We had even a special committe under a committed member who was an ex Manipal Institute of Technology Professor to manage this program for MGP. Few of the wards in Mysore had voluntary group employing some one to segregate the garbage and take to the pre selected garbage dump to be made into manure etc. This worked only for few months and then failed in most of the places.

A doctor, a returnee from the US came forward to take care of most of the garbage to be converted into manure using vermeecomposting and his offer was rejected by the corporation. Some half hearted efforts were made to privatize the garbage collection. It also did not produce the expected results because it was not implemented properly. We all know what happens here. There was no transparency and incompetent people got the contract and no proper monitoring. It is not the strategy which was wrong but implementation.

Recently another effort was made in the name of "sunadar Mysore" to get the involvement of people spending lakhs of rupees and it is also not showing any results. In the mean time ADB funded excel plant is not working and garbage is simply dumped every where.

Before we think of applying any good models of developed countries, we have to take into consideration the ground reality. In all those places there is good infrastructure to collect garbage to begin with (either by the government or by private contractors), strict implementation of the rule of law to punish those who do not handle the garbage properly, a civic mided citziens (not all, but a significant majority), a strong NGO body, strict monitoring by local private householders committees lest the real estate price go down etc. We in India do not have any of it. We need an Indian system to solve our problem. First of all we should realise that handling garbage is not easy and we need a sophstiacted management systen and not an antiquated one.

In closing my conclusion is that citizens can help, but only in simple ways of segregating garbage. But collection and handling of it has to be the responsibility of the corporation. It cannot be done on a voluntary basis by an NGO however committed they may be. EXNORA has tried and did not succeed despite all the news to the contrary.