Garbage piles up as civic workers stage protest

Mangaluru: Even as the indefinite protest by pourakarmikas on contract basis entered the fifth day, heaps of garbage were found piling up in front of apartments, houses and hotels in many wards across the city on Friday.
Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), in association with Antony Waste Handling Cell Private Limited (AWHCPL), the agency engaged in handling door-to-door waste collection in Mangaluru, had made alternative arrangements for waste collection in Mangaluru. However, they could not cover all the 60 wards.
MCC commissioner K Channabasappa said that 80 vehicles had been arranged by the AWHCPL, to manage the garbage. “The MCC is mobilising labourers by engaging permanent civic workers of the city corporation, to collect waste and clear garbage heaps in the city,” he said.
Mayor Jayanand Anchan, in a bid to instil confidence among people and civic workers, drove a tipper truck loaded with waste.
The mayor said that the city corporation has been putting in efforts to clear garbage heaps in the city. Meanwhile, UGD workers on contract basis have also been staging a protest, and the maintenance of 22 wet wells and four sewage treatment plants (STP) were also affected.