Ruckus in Mangaluru council meeting over garbage row

Ruckus in Mangaluru council meeting over garbage row

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Oct 31, 2021: The Opposition Congress in the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council said on Saturday that black spots in the city are rising owing to irregular collection of solid waste from doorsteps.

They said that dry waste is not being lifted from all doorsteps and hence many are dumping the garbage on the roadside or vacant land.

Councillor Praveenchandra Alva said that as per information, 24 vehicles, including 12 compactors and an equal number of mini vehicles which collect waste from the doorsteps, are under repair. Hence the contract agency, Antony Waste Handling Cell Pvt Ltd., is not collecting waste from all houses daily.

Another member Naveen R. D’Souza said that sanitary inspectors are not supervising the garbage collection properly.

When Whip in council Sudhir Shetty Kannur, from the BJP, started responding to the charges, there was a heated exchange of words between the ruling and the Opposition members who stormed the Well of the House. After Mayor Premananda Shetty convinced them to return to their seats, he told the council that the vehicles under repair had been replaced.

If required, ward-level meetings can be called to address the issues related to solid waste management, he said.

The Mayor said that the Congress disrupted the proceedings with a pre-conceived agenda.

He said that vehicles going for repair and maintenance was a permanent feature since the garbage collection and transportation was handed over to a single contractor. Some vehicles will be under maintenance. The Congress is blowing it out of proportion.

The Mayor said that in some areas in the city dry waste in being lifted now in the afternoons not only on Fridays but other days too.

CCTV cameras had been installed at about six black spots to prevent dumping of the garbage, the Mayor said.

Senior member of the House Lancelot Pinto, from the Congress, alleged that the contractor of the corporation installing the LED street lights instead of fixing the lights of 24 watts on interior roads has installed the lights of 20 watts. Moves are on to install 34 watts lights on the main roads which should have lights of 60 watts capacity, he said.

Commissioner of the corporation Akshy Sridhar said that he will get it verified.

The Mayor announced the constitution of a House committee to inspect the Asian Development Bank funded projects in the city.

Courtesy: The Hindu