The Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday warned BBMP’s zonal joint commissioners of stern action if they do not resolve the garbage crisis by June-end. This is the first time that the Chief Minister has issued a warning to the officers. The city has been grappling with this issue for the past one month with the Chief Minister too chairing several meetings.
Briefing presspersons, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said, following directions from the Chief Minister, the Mayor and BBMP Commissioner, in consultation with the Chief Secretary, would shortly give a written undertaking to residents that garbage would not be dumped at Mandur after five months.
He said that the BBMP is in the process of identifying six alternative sites where garbage processing plants would be set up. “Mandur residents have agreed to allow dumping for five months. We have to identify alternatives before that.”
Last year, elected representatives and senior officials of the BBMP had visited Salem in Tamil Nadu to study and finalise an agreement for the commissioning of a waste disposal plant in the city. Mr Reddy was part of the team.
Meanwhile, there was no breakthrough at a high-level meeting involving Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee and Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana with Mandur residents. Protests in both Mandur and Bangalore continued.
The residents are insisting on a written commitment from the State Government on ending garbage dumping within five months.
“We were given a copy of the proceedings (of the meeting) and told that it is a written commitment, which we cannot accept. Our protest will continue till that time that we get a commitment,” said Gopal Rao, one of the five residents, who participated in the meeting. He said that villagers would continue to stop garbage-laden trucks from entering Mandur.
The Mayor said that they hope to end the impasse on Tuesday.
Protester illA 48-year-old protester, Nalina, who was among eight persons on an indefinite fast at Mandur, was hospitalised on Monday morning after she fell unconscious. According to Mr. Rao, she had to be shifted to a private hospital in K.R. Puram due to low sugar and hyper tension. Meanwhile Upalokayukta S.B. Majige visited Mandur again on Monday. He told presspersons that he will be filing a suo moto complaint on the irregularities pertaining to garbage dumping in Mandur and prepare a report within 10 days. Legal action, if necessary, will be initiated, he added.
