In his first Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council meeting as mayor on Wednesday, B S Sathyanarayana, stressed on making Bangalore a cleaner and greener city.

Defending the initiative of cleaning KR Market with the help of college students, the Mayor said students who were involved in the cleaning drive are not child labourers. “They are all 18 years and above. After APS College students’ involvement, many colleges in Bangalore are coming forward to join  hands with the BBMP,” he said. He also said the BBMP will take up intensive cleaning every Saturday at the ward-level.

The Mayor also said Councillors, city MLAs along with District  Minister R Ramalinga Reddy will visit Salem on September 24 to study the waste generated by energy plants. He also said Chief Minister Siddaramiah has promised to extend all support to the BBMP. “The Chief Minister has asked us to give priority to lakes and roads,” he said.

Congress leader Nagaraju said the BBMP has taken many decisions on solid waste management but none of them have been implemented. “We have asked the state government to provide land at eight places. It is still on paper. We are not able to implement it as officials are not working,” he alleged. He also suggested floating tenders one at a time and set a deadline for implementation.

On planting saplings, Nagaraju suggested taking up 100 wards for the sapling drive.