Bengaluru Joins the BreatheLife Campaign to Stop Pollution

Bengaluru (a.k.a. Bangalore), which is the capital of India’s southern state Karnataka, has become the first Indian city to join the BreatheLife campaign.

With this decision, this megacity of 8.4 million people commits to reducing air pollution (including climate pollutants) in key sectors, like transport, municipal solid waste, industry, and energy production.

The city’s government, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, also has drawn up detailed plans to construct bicycle lanes on over 100km of roads.

The government encourages city residents to use bicycles for shorter distance, but also to support first- and last-mile connectivity, as some of the roads earmarked for bike lanes are connected to metro stations.

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Air quality in the city is continuously monitored by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board in a number of locations throughout the metropolis.

According to a BreatheLife report, the city is also focused on better management of its solid waste, a significant quantity of which is currently burnt. The report reveals that Bengaluru produces about 4,200 to 4,500 metric tonnes of solid waste every year.

The city has established 189 dry waste centres to segregate waste at source and taken action to install semi-underground waste collection bins in 200 busy commercial locations and city markets.

Bengaluru also has procured 25 large capacity mechanical sweepers that have been installed in 13 locations and established seven waste processing plants with the capacity to process 2,300 tonnes of waste.