In this episode of Kasa Shramika Parisara Rakshaka with RJ Usha, Nalini Shekar, co-founder of Bangalore-based NGO Hasirudala, shares information about their new innovative venture called ‘Sanchari Bazaar’.

This mobile grocery store will sell staple food items. The initiative will help facilitate doorstep access to quality food grains at lower prices, in collaboration with J.K Trading Co. Fifteen food items were introduced on the inauguration day. The Sanchari Bazaar will be operated on cooperative principles.

Wastepickers possessing BBMP cards are provided with identity cards to be able to receive the rations. Food grains costing INR 4 or INR 5 lower than the original market price can be accessed by them. The Sanchari Bazaar will visit the areas where wastepickers reside once every fifteen days, post-3 pm. The ones who don’t have BBMP cards will be assigned an INR 25 card to be able to receive the ration. Rations provided by this bazaar aren’t subject to GST rates.

In this conversation, Nalini also shared a few valuable points about waste segregation – like, wastepickers should not remove the aluminum part from tube lights and bulbs, because the gas content in those portions can adversely affect a person’s health. She also mentions the problems faced at the Dry Waste Collection Centres (DWCC) and at aggregation centres where discarded clothes and chappals are stored and later sent to factories.

Lakshmi, a member of Hasirudala, also shares her experiences of being part of a training workshop in Mumbai. The session was part of a National Workshop themed on ‘Integration of Wastepickers in Organic Waste Management’ organised with the support of the National Safai Karmachari Finance and Development Corporation. Later, Lakshmi conducted a training session herself on the subjects of terrace gardening and ways of using different kinds of compost.

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Written by Ramya Gowda K.