The Indian city of Bengaluru, also commonly known as Bangalore, might be renowned as the high-tech center of the country, but it is also known for something else – long-standing garbage issues. Now, it is making use of blockchain to improve the public complaints system for civic amenities such as garbage disposal.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the municipal administration for civic amenities and certain infrastructural assets in the wider Bengaluru metropolitan area will begin a pilot project to test a blockchain-powered complaints redress system.

The use of blockchain is meant to improve the system’s transparency and accountability. By making it tamper-proof, all stakeholder parties will be able to supervise any executions of solutions to garbage complaints, while protecting the integrity of system data.

Citizen Involved & Technology assisted Governance (CITAG) – an India-based NGO devoted to coming up with waste management solutions in India – had approached BBMP with the proposed system which it said it will develop at its own cost, according to BBMP Special Commissioner Randeep D.

“The complainants can post their reactions vis-a-vis their satisfaction to the steps taken to address his/her complaint. This level of transparency will exist so that there is some pressure on officials also to deliver on the ground and so that it reflects online as well.” Randeep explained.

“The key differentiating factor will be — you will have better information about the complaint you are raising, that is not just the status of the complaint but also exact information of who is currently handling the problem when it is expected to get resolved. If it is not resolved within the expected time period, it will be escalated and will get more traction within BBMP,” described CITAG co-founder GR Chandran.

He also said that with the green light is given by BBMP, the pilot will go ahead in the first week of June this year. Further project expansion will be decided by BBMP depending on the success of the pilot.