Bangalore, August 29: The Congress has warned the state government that it will call for Bangalore bandh if the garbage problem is not solved in a week.
Congress members staged protests across the city on Tuesday, including at DJ Halli, Rajajinagar, Madiwala, Kengeri and Rajajingar. This was besides the protest at Minerva Circle, where president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) G Parameshwara led the protest. He said the Congress would intensify the protest and call for Bangalore bandh if the state government did not solve the problem within seven days. In that case, he said, protests would be held in each of the 198 wards of the city.
He said the recent rain had aggravated the problem posed by piles of garbage lying uncollected across the city. He said the city dwellers had to put up with stench because of the administration’s failure. He criticised the state government, saying it was mired in controversies, be it over illegal mining, land encroachment or garbage. He said the BBMP was spending about Rs800 crore towards garbage disposal, but still was not able to solve the problem.
The KPCC president said the Palike gets a huge amount as tax from the people and utilising this amount judiciously could have improved the living standard of Bangaloreans. Continuing his tirade against the BJP leaders, he highlighted that mayor D Venkatesh Murthy was accused of encroaching land. He said that until now, only the BJP MLAs were accused of land grab, but now corporators too were facing these allegations, which indicated the extent of corruption in the party.
Meanwhile, about 200 Congress workers hit the streets at DJ Halli and got down to the business of cleaning the streets. Within half an hour, they swept the streets clean and shifted garbage elsewhere.
Block president Lokesh M said he did not know where the garbage was shifted. He said residents of the area were living in the fear of dengue and chikungunya and it was necessary to clean the streets. On 64th Main Road in Rajajinagar, former corporator Padmavathy and local leader Radhakrishna cleaned the garbage along with their supporters.
