Mayor apologises to Mandur villagers for dumping garbage

Mayor B S Sathyanarayana on Saturday conceded that the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike had skipped several deadlines to stop dumping waste at Mandur and appealed to the villagers to pardon him.

His admission came when 96-year-old freedom fighter H S Doreswamy called on him to highlight the plight of Mandur residents and BBMP’s measures to stop dumping there.

Two days ago, Doreswamy had staged a dharna along with Aam Aadmi Party workers to show solidarity with the villagers who have been protesting against dumping of waste in their village.

Highlighting the sufferings of the villagers, Doreswamy said the protesting residents would readily agree to go to jail since the condition in the prisons is far superior than Mandur.

He challenged District In- Charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee and the mayor to spend three months in Mandur to understand the problems of the people living there. “Some say that garbage crisis is created by land mafia. Just to punish them, you cannot let Mandur villagers perish under filth,” Doreswamy said.

He told the mayor that BBMP officials cannot shirk their responsibility and asked them to find a viable solution to the garbage problem.

He also demanded revocation of Section 144 of CrPC imposed on Mandur.

Deadline issue

Replying to Doreswamy’s charge, Mayor Sathyanarayana said, “The deadline of June 1 has ended but still we are dumping waste in Mandur. I request the villagers to give us six months’ time. This time we are serious about finding a solution to the garbage problem. We will reduce dumping in Mandur a phased manner,” he said.

There is a pile-up of about 25 lakh tonnes of garbage in the village, which will require two years to remove.

He said he has sought alternative land in 15 days from the State government.

He also briefed Doreswamy on the initiatives taken to set up processing units of two tonnes of waste in every ward to minimise transportation of garbage to the landfill.

He said he has also asked the State government to provide 100 acres to 150 acres of land in four directions of Bangalore for garbage processing.