The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, principal Opposition party in both the Legislative Assembly and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahangara Palike (BBMP), has given a week to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to clear the garbage in the city, failing which it would launch a Bangalore bandh.
Leading the city-wide dharna at Minerva Circle here to draw public attention to what it termed the BJP’s indifference to a crucial civic duty to provide a clean environment to the citizens, KPCC president G. Parameshwara said the Congress would wait for seven days for the ruling BJP to rid Bangalore of the rotting garbage mounds.
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Listing the government’s blunders, which he said culminated in the stalemate which had dented the city’s image, Dr. Parameshwara said it failed to respect the Supreme Court order to recruit 4,200 pourakarmikas in the BBMP.
He said the number of landfills — which existed when the city had a jurisdiction of just 200 sq km — has remained the same even when Bangalore was now a vast metropolis spreading across 800 sq km.
No steps had been taken to identify new landfills. Moreover, communities near the current ones are up in arms following concerns over health hazards.
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Not segregated
Dr. Parameshwara said farmers, who once used to accept garbage as fertilizer for their fields, were refusing to touch it as it was not segregated.
He castigated the BBMP for entrusting garbage disposal to the Engineering Department instead of Health Department, which has the necessary experience and technology. Moreover, the civic authority was spending around Rs. 400 crore on garbage disposal without calling for any tenders.
The former KPCC president R.V. Deshpande, the former MLA R.V. Devaraj and the former Leader of Opposition in the BBMP Udayshankar were present.
The former minister and senior KPCC vice-president A. Krishnappa, staged a dharna in front of the K.R. Puram BBMP office.