CM vows to rid City of garbage

CM vows to rid City of garbage
DH News Service, Bangalore:
Yeddyurappa, who on Monday had promised to accord high priority to addressing the burgeoning City's inadequacies, virtually declared a war on what he termed a garbage clearing "mafia" which was allegedly behind the neglect.


Reeling under myriad civic problems, Bangaloreans can hope to get some relief from the stinking garbage dumps across the City if only new Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s initial enthusiasm endures.

During a whirlwind inspection tour of several rain-hit areas of the City on Tuesday, Yeddyurappa had a first-hand taste of the stinking state of affairs.

The stench emanating from improperly disposed garbage which had even clogged storm water drains at several places, left the chief minister fuming.

Yeddyurappa, who on Monday had promised to accord high priority to addressing the burgeoning City’s inadequacies, virtually declared a war on what he termed a garbage clearing “mafia” which was allegedly behind the neglect.

“I am told a mafia is behind it all. A single family is bagging all garbage clearance contracts in the City for the last many years. I warn both the contractors and officials to be ready to face action if they fail in their duty,” he declared.

Yeddyurappa immediately inquired about it with newly-elected City MLAs who were accompanying him and issued an on-the-spot instruction to Principal Secretary of Urban Development department K Jothiramalingam to inquire into the garbage contract system and submit a report to him.

Yeddyurappa was greeted all through his inspection tour by heaps of garbage dumped along storm water drains, open spaces and street corners.

The chief minister found that garbage had clogged storm water drains at several places.

The thippe mafia

While Yeddyurappa did not elaborate on the “mafia”, Congress MLA Roshan Baig, who raised the issue at a meeting convened by the chief minister in the Vidhana Soudha, said members of a particular family hailing from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh have monopolised the garbage contract system for last several years. The family manages to get the contract and sub-contracts the work to relatives of local corporators (now former corporators).

“Nearly 50 per cent of such sub-contracts is handled by relatives of local politicians. Moreover, nobody has details on how much garbage a contractor lifts per day and how much he disposes,” Roshan Baig stated.