Parameshwara lashes out over garbage crisis

Drawing flak from the High Court and flooded by complaints from citizens on the garbage mess, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara hauled Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials over their cavalier attitude in addressing the worsening crisis across the city. Accompanied by the Mayor, the BBMP Commissioner and other senior officials, Parameshwara on Friday took stock of the situation in every zone.

Patiently sitting through presentations spanning several hours, Parameshwara lost his cool when officials briefed him that engineers refuse to attend to the garbage problem. A senior official, who was part of the meeting, told DH that he lashed out at the senior officials for messing up the administration.

“Transfer 13 assistant engineers from the planning section to manage garbage disposal with immediate effect. If they refuse to report for duty, repatriate them to their mother departments and we will get a few other engineers from other departments. We have already sent back 30 engineers to the PWD. Should we (state government) get rapped by the High Court because of your callous and shoddy work? What did we gain after having spent several crores on garbage? Can’t you all discharge your duties as desired?” Parameshwara reportedly chided the officials of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) section of BBMP.

Failing to implement his previous instructions, an assistant executive engineer of South division (Yeshwantpur) also received flak. “The main road in Yeshwantpur is infested with bushes and weeds on either side. I had told the officer to clear the bushes and manage it properly. But to date, the situation has been the same. If you can not listen to what I say, why do we need officials like you,” Parameshwara reportedly said to the official.

Revealing that the recent audit of the SWM wing in BBMP had revealed several discrepancies Parameshwara reportedly said, “There has been a huge mismatch between the number of workers shown on the list and the actual number of workers working at the ward level. Besides, regular autos and tippers have also been added to the list as garbage vehicles which do not exist in reality. We will soon order a CID inquiry into these irregularities and culprits will be dealt with severely.”