In an act of protest against the negligence of the Belagavi City Corporation, a ruling party MLA dumped garbage in front of the official residence of the corporation commissioner here on Sunday.
Just as morning walkers were completing their stroll, MLA and BJP leader Abhay Patil drove a tractor full of garbage to the official residence of city corporation commissioner K.H. Jagadish.
He moved the tractor in front of the gates and unloaded it. He got off the tractor and shovelled the garbage dumped in front of the gate, on the pavement, evenly. His associates helped him.
The corporation commissioner’s house is at a stone’s throw distance from the home office of Member of Parliament Mangala Angadi and senior officers, including the Additional Deputy Commissioner.
Mr. Patil defended his act by calling it his morning cleaning routine. He said that he was sick and tired of complaining about garbage removal from streets and public places in his constituency of Belagavi South.
“I tell them every day, but officers don’t do their job. People of my constituency are forced to walk around in garbage. It can spread disease and their lives are endangered. I decided to protest against their inaction by dumping garbage in front of the top officer’s house. They will understand our problems, only when we do what they do to us,” he said.
“If the city corporation continues to neglect the issue, I will continue to do this. I will bring garbage form my constituency and throw it in front of the commissioner’s house,” he said.
Mr. Jagadish then said that he would view the development with a positive outlook. “Our staff are busy in flood management. They are doing a very good job in clearing gutters and cleaning tanks in the city limits. I will ask them to focus equally so on garbage disposal in the city,” he said.
