Times of India 23.07.2009

Govt orders probe into garbage scam

BANGALORE: Cornered by a belligerent opposition, the state government has ordered a judicial probe into the alleged Rs 110-crore garbage scam in BBMP.

"An eminent retired judge of the Karnataka high court will conduct the inquiry," said chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, while rejecting the demand for a CBI probe by the opposition in the council here on Wednesday.

The retired judge will be asked to submit the report within three months from the date of assumption of charge. However, the government paid no heed to opposition's demand to lodge criminal cases against BBMP officials named in the preliminary inquiry report, submitted by BMTF inspector general of police Narayan Nadamani last year.

Rejecting the opposition demand to cancel garbage contracts given to various agencies involved in the scam, Yeddyurappa said: "We cannot take such a hasty step as it will put residents to a lot of inconvenience. So we have decided to call for fresh tenders and appoint new contractors before cancelling the old contracts. The contractors' mafia is so strong that they are even capable of taking the government for a ride.''

Admitting prevalence of corruption in the BBMP contract system, the CM maintained that the government has initiated various measures including fixing GPS to garbage trucks and identifying new dump yards to ensure transparency in the disposal of garbage. "We have also recovered Rs 8.5 crore from the erring contractors," he added.

Raising the issue in the council, Ugrappa earlier distributed copies of an inquiry report, which stated that 30 medical officers, three health officers, 30 contractors and 26 BBMP employees were involved in the scam, causing a huge loss to the organization. The issue pertains to garbage clearance in the city between March 2007 and June 2008, during which BBMP paid around Rs 110 crore to contractors.