Office-bearers of the Vinayaknagar Nagarika Hitarakshana Samithi of Ward No 14 belonging to Corporator M P Mahesh, have urged for the maintenance of cleanliness in and around the Siddivinayak market and also development of the entire layout.

Samithi office-bearers Dinesh, Nataraj, Santhosh, Krishnaiah Shettar, Harsha, Subrahmanya and former president of the City Municipal Council Sadashivaiah, took out a padayatra, along with M P Mahesh, to have a reality check of the various problems faced by the residents of Ward No 14.

They stated that the CMC officials and the APMC had been negligent about maintaining cleanliness in Vinayaknagar layout and the market place.

APMC President Vijaykumar, who arrived at the spot of the padayatra, clarified the office-bearers that the Siddivinayak market was in a dispute, and thus, neither the APMC nor the CMC were in a position to develop it.

Speaking on the occasion, APMC Secretary Puttaraj said, it was the responsibility of the APMC to maintain cleanliness at the Siddivinayak market. For this, it had been collecting Rs 35,000 every year. However, the contractors, to whom the cleanliness job had been handed out, had not done the job properly. Hence, the entire place was in a mess, he expressed.

CMC member M P Mahesh said, it was also the responsibility of the CMC to maintain cleanliness in and around Siddivinayak market area and also develop the place. However, this place had become, more or less, a dumping ground of the waste and toxic, making it difficult for the general public to move around. Most of the people residing in this area, keep their windows and doors shut, for most of the time, unable to bear the stench emanating from the garbage thrown around in this place.