KMC’s ‘wake-up song’ for waste collection from Dec
Times of India | 22 November 2025
Kolkata: Mayor Firhad Hakim on Friday introduced a special awareness drive with song to appeal citizens to start segregating waste at home and hand over the segregated waste to the waste collectors.
Set to the tune of Usha Uthup's ‘Uri Uri Baba', the KMC song— ‘Pourasabha dak diyeche, bolchi ami tai, nirdharito dustbin e moila phela chai'—will be played over special battery-driven vehicles equipped with audio systems that have been introduced by KMC's solid waste management department. This will be a departure from the traditional practice of waste collectors blowing the whistle to alert households.
According to member, mayor-in-council overseeing the KMC solid waste management department, Debabrata Majumdar, who chose the song, the musical system would be effective from first week of Dec. However, the civic official mentioned that the civic body would not do away with the traditional whistling system immediately.
The new version of the song goes on to warn citizens of fines being imposed for throwing refuse on the road and advises them to segregate domestic waste into kitchen and non-kitchen waste.
The mayor hoped this song with its familiar catchy tune will appeal to citizens, who will adopt its message and make waste segregation a success.
"If the efforts bear fruit, we will be able to save our century-old underground drainage system," said Hakim. Initially, these vehicles will operate in neighbourhoods that are lagging in waste segregation. While KMC conservancy workers collect kitchen waste daily, non-biodegradable waste like plastic, glass and metal is collected three times a week. The song will also warn the defaulters against imposition of penalty if they fail to hand over segregated waste. "We will select some wards in the first phase that are non-performers as far as waste segregation is concerned," said Majumdar.
To facilitate waste segregation, the KMC has, since Dec 1, 2022, distributed 16 lakh buckets to 8 lakh households, with each household receiving two buckets. Segregation in several south Kolkata neighbourhoods is gradually picking up, but many areas in north and central Kolkata are lagging behind.
The added areas have even lower segregation efficiencies, and only an informal recycling system.