From garden city to garbage city
Reacting to a New York Times report on garbage problem in the city, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Monday said Bangalore is a global city and anything happening here grabs international space, maintaining that government is taking steps to clear accumulated trash. The New York Times has reported that the garbage problem in the city shows the incompetence of Indian governance and the dark side of the country’s rapid economic growth.
“Bangalore is a global city and whatever happens here grabs space in international media.The government is in hold of the problem and taken all measures to clear the accumulated garbage in the city. Things will be alright in few days time,” he told reporters here. The garbage problem would not bring disrepute and defile city’s image, Shettar said, adding, the report highlights the problem, but not the continuous steps taken by the government to tackle it.
Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai urged Shettar and the Chief Secretary to convene an emergency meeting and form a special task force to address garbage problem and clear it as soon as possible. Pai rued that the contracts to clear garbage have been awarded to mafia who do not have expertise in disposing the trash.
“It will augur well for the BBMP (city corporation) to grant contracts to private companies run by professionals,” he said.
Bangalore City Mayor Venkatesh Murthy said garbage problem is all over the world and even New York once faced it, but resolved it by wide participation by people, people’s representative and government agencies.
“We have also initiated such measures. By next week most of the garbage will be cleared,” he said. Protests at dumping yards have deepened garbage problems for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Paile (BBMP), Murthy said adding, city corporation would identify at least 15 more dumps outside the city.
However, in the next three months BBMP will put on track various scientific garbage disposal projects, which were freezed for last five years, Murthy said. The trouble started three months ago when BBMP workers went on a strike and garbage clearance suffered.
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