BBMP's claim on waste disposal exposed

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) claims of effective garbage disposal in the City were exposed on Wednesday when corporators from Yelahanka zone highlighted the poor solid waste management in their respective wards.

Raising the issue at the BBMP Council meeting, the BJP’s Vidyaranyapura corporator Nandini Srinivas complained that garbage collectors hardly showed up in her ward in the last several months. Other corporators from the BBMP’s Yelahanka zone supported her statement. BVG India, the company which bagged the garbage removal contract, has miserably failed in their respective wards too, the corporators alleged. Leader of Opposition, Manjunath Reddy, demanded to know the Palike’s compulsion behind retaining the BVG India contract despite the company’s poor track record.

Kodigehalli corporator Ashwath Narayana Gowda said that though the Palike had stopped sending garbage to Mandur, it had not made any alternative arrangements for the wards under Yelahanka zone. “BVG India does not have compactors or tractors as mandated under the terms and conditions of garbage contract. This is despite segregation of 60-70 per cent of waste in our area. If the situation does not improve, people will be compelled to throw waste at public places,” he said.

Replying to the agitated corporators, BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana said that the BVG India had three contract packages in Yelahanka zone, of which two had been cancelled. He promised that if the situation did not improve, the third package would be cancelled too. A penalty of Rs 16 lakh has already been imposed on the contractor, and the money will be used for better waste management, he added. Lakshminarayana assured the corporators that a waste-processing facility of 200-tonne capacity coming up shortly at Mavallipura would reduce the garbage problem in Yelahanka zone.
DH News Service