Lokayukta inquiry sought into the garbage disposal issue
Even as the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials claim that the garbage is being cleared across the city, in some places solid waste is piling up.
While garbage is being cleared in most residential areas, piles of wet garbage continue to be lying in major markets K.R. Market and Russel Market. Garbage was not cleared on Avenue Road, some parts of Basavanagudi, Madiwala and Siddapura on Thursday.
According to a senior BBMP official, garbage collection and transportation across the city had been taken up. While there were issues with garbage collection in Bangalore South and Eastern parts on Tuesday, it had been cleared by Thursday afternoon.
Amidst tight police security, BBMP transported about 1,800 tonnes of solid waste on Thursday. Gopal Raj, a resident of Mandur, said that 350 trucks of garbage was dumped from late Wednesday night to early hours of Thursday. He said all promises to address the issue of Mandur residents remained on paper and residents continue to be affected by the unscientific dumping.
The BBMP official said that besides Mandur, 300 tonnes of garbage was sent to Terra Firma, about 225 tonnes to Karnataka Compost Development Corporation unit, 400 tonnes and 600 tonnes to landfills in Laskhmipura and Benkipura respectively.
Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana said, in a release, that BBMP will take over garbage processing units at Mandur and contract of two private companies, which had taken responsibility to process waste, has been cancelled.
Lokayukta probe sought
The former Minister P.R. Ramesh urged the State government to order inquiry by the Lokayukta into the garbage disposal issue. He accused BBMP of doing little to establish the proposed waste treatment plants while garbage contractors violated their terms of contract with impunity. During the six-year period from 2006 when the government identified Mandur as a landfill till 2012 when the garbage crisis became international news, BBMP paid no heed to the need to have a garbage management system.
Though several waste treatment plants were conceived and sought to be implemented after the crisis surfaced in 2012, there has been no progress on implementing them.
He sought to know why garbage contractors are not being held accountable for their failure to transport segregated waste. The terms of the contract framed according to the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000 also stipulate that contractors use only post 2006-registered vehicles, not use tractors, transport wet and dry waste in vehicles of different colours, transport wet waste every day and dry waste once in a week, besides installing GPS in every vehicle. “But, the authorities are not monitoring the contractors for compliance with their terms of contract”, he said.
