JOIN USChief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday admitted that neither his government nor the previous BJP government did much to solve the garbage crisis at Mandur.
During his maiden visit to Mandur, he inspected the landfill area and discussed the issue with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials.
At a meeting with the villagers, he said: “The previous government had earlier claimed that it will solve the issue but did not. It is a fact that even our government could not do much. However, now we are committed to resolve the issue and garbage trucks will not be sent to Mandur from December 1, at any cost.”
Siddaramaiah, said it is only after meeting freedom fighters such as H S Doreswamy and like-minded leaders, he became aware of the Mandur garbage issue.
“MLA of the Mahadevapura constituency, Arvind Limbavalli had shown me a CD on the condition of Mandur earlier at one of the Assembly sessions.
We could not solve the problem immediately and hence took five-months’ time to stop sending garbage trucks to Mandur.”
On the waste management measures undertaken, Siddaramaiah said: “BBMP Special Commissioner for Solid Waste Management (SWM), Darpan Jain, has been appointed with the sole objective of solving the garbage crisis in the City.
One of the main reasons for today’s situation is not setting up the waste processing plants. Eight places have been identified for setting up waste processing units.”
The chief minister assured the villagers that around 24-25 lakh metric tonnes of waste that has been dumped over the years at Mandur would be cleared by setting up a processing plant in three years’ time.
The chief minister also promised them that the number of water tankers to the village will be increased. “The spraying of Effective Microorganism (EM) solution and odour control measures will be taken by BBMP regularly,” Siddaramaiah added.