Bengaluru's garbage 'transported' in Ambassadors, passenger autos

BENGALURU: The city’s solid waste management system continues to be plagued by irregularities. The BBMP council was on Tuesday told that officials and garbage contractors were raising fake bills pertaining to transport vehicles.
While the bills have been claimed for auto-tippers which transport garbage, cross-checking of payments related to Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency showed that the vehicles were actually Ambassador cars, two-wheelers and passenger autorickshaws. RR Nagar MLA Munirathna revealed this, alleging that officials are hand in glove with contractors and have cheated the civic agency of several lakhs of rupees.

Detailing the payments made towards garbage management in a ward in his constituency between April 16 and December 17 last year, Munirathna said Rs 34 lakh was paid to contractors during the period. “There were variations in monthly bill payments. When we began to examine the registration numbers of auto-tippers for which payments had been claimed, it came to light that many of them were other vehicles. One number belonged to an Ambassador car registered in 1992. Two-wheelers and passenger autos also featured in the list. Can anyone transport garbage in these vehicles,” he asked.

The MLA said though contractors claim to have 21 auto-tippers, 13 of them are goods/passenger vehicles. “While we have traced some registration numbers to Davanagere and Haveri, one of them, said to be of KGF, Kolar, doesn’t even exist as per RTO officials and RTI documents,” he added.

Munirathna demanded that the BBMP commissioner call for fresh tenders for garbage management and take action against errant officials.

Box: Officials suspended; ACB to probe matter

Following the uproar over alleged irregularities in solid waste management in RR Nagar, Palike commissioner N Manjunath Prasad issued orders suspending corresponding ward officials and initiating action against those who have held positions since 2016. “The list of suspended officials includes assistant engineers, health inspectors and others. BBMP will write to the government to suspend those under deputation from other departments. Investigation into the alleged scam will be handed over to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB),” he added.