Inspired by The ugly Indians (TUI), The Ugly Indians of Koramangala and surrounding areas along with BBMP have volunteered with TUI and fixed around 35 blackspots in 15 months in and around Koramangala.
Till date, nearly 25 blackspots in Koramangala ward, 4 blackspots in Adugodi ward, 4 blackspots in Ejipura ward and 2 blackspots in Jakkasandra ward, have been cleared by them. With a success of 95% cleanliness ,the team is looking forward to make Bengaluru a beautiful city to live with pride and self-respect. The impact is dramatic to those who live and work around. Absence of litter is noticed only by those who are used to seeing a place filthy. Filth on footpaths is not random. It is part of a predictable daily cycle.
TUI(The ugly Indian) is a anonymous group of volunteers who fixes ugly spots and ugly streets in India with the support of local government/corporation. This group of volunteers have inspired and influenced many volunteers across the country to fix their own streets.
“Kaam chalu mooh bandh” No talking-only doing, is the motto of this citizens group which picks a ugly spot and cleans and beautifies with the right design elements.
Over 450+ spot fixes have been fixed and beautified in the last 4 years which included fixing blackspots, ugly walls attracted to open defecation/Paan spitting and fixing death traps (missing/broken slabs) in the footpath. More than 1500 trees have been maintained by painting the base with red terracotta which keeps the termites away and also poster free. All spotfixes is self funded by volunteers, local residents or shop owners
Ugliness attracts ugliness, is the simple thought this team works. If a place is clean and neat, people don’t dirty it with a sense of the place is been owned by someone. We Ugly Indians are part of the problem and only we can solve it. Everyone feels ashamed to throw garbage in-front of a guarded or owned property, if a spot is not owned by anyone (including BBMP) that spot will soon turn into a blackspot. This team works with local residents and volunteers to beautify ugly spots and make sure someone owns it.
TUI has also joined hands with BMRCL, BDA, Indian Railways, Indian Army in beautifying the metro pillars(MG road and Vijanagar), Flyover pillars(Across the city), Underpass bridges(dairy circle and kadubeshanahalli), Army walls and Indian railways crossover bridges etc. These colourful beautified pillars have stopped thousands of bills pasted for free/illegal advertisements and resulted in poster free walls and pillars.
Recent projects of TUI include the 1 km stretch of Agra lake road which was beautified by local volunteers, elected representatives and BBMP. Around 15 loads of debris, 5 loads of garbage was removed in 2 days. 70+ tree saplings have been planted with tree guards. This stretch is now maintained by local volunteers and nearby hospital/hotels.
Another big project is the 1.3km stretch of inner ring road between ejipura and domlur which was cleaned and beautified by 400+ Army Jawans, local civilians and ugly Indian volunteers from morning 5.30am to 12.30pm. These projects gives us the confidence of swatch bharat coming into reality.
New projects of transforming Government schools buildings and classrooms which encourages the children to go to school and get awareness on swatch bharat is in progress.
This anonymous group operates through their facebook page, you can follow the FB link for updates on events happening around and upcoming events in your neighbourhood. Also do go through the TEDx talk on why Indian is so filthy and what we can do about it?
Ugly Indians of Koramangala fix 35 blackspots in 15 months
