The Hindu       06.03.2013

Mandur accepts city’s waste, gets water in return

With the communities living around the Mandur landfill agreeing to allow the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to continue dumping of garbage, the civic body is taking action to meet the assurances made to the citizens by taking up various infrastructure development activities.

According to a press note here on Monday, the BBMP released Rs. 1 crore for providing drinking water facilities and improved road infrastructure in Mandur and Bidarahalli gram panchayat limits.

This was following a meeting with Minister for Health and Family Welfare Aravind Limbavali.

The release said the BBMP was paying for water to be supplied through tankers to the villages since September 2012. The meeting decided that every day, 61 water tankers would be sent to villages coming under the two gram panchayats.

Meanwhile, BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah directed the Chief Accounts Officer to release funds and clear two months’ pending bills of civic contractors. The remaining bills would be cleared in phases, he assured the contractors.

The civil contractors have been giving the BBMP a taste of its own medicine by beating drums in the head office. The civil contractors claim the BBMP owes them Rs. 1,200 crore.