The Times of India 26.09.2013
Garbage tourism takes corporators to Salem
BANGALORE: As five KSRTC Airavata buses revved up and tailgated from the BBMP headquarters at Hudson Circle, roars of joy went up from the occupants. It was 7am, Wednesday. The picnic had begun.
This was no school educational tour; the buses were full up with 140 corporators and 40 BBMP officials, off on a trip to Salem to study the scientific disposal of garbage in that district of Tamil Nadu.
Three buses ferried corporators, while one bus took BBMP commissioner M Lakshminarayana and his officials. One bus was meant for women corporators. Dressed for the occasion, they were busy clicking pictures of each other. It was an enthusiastic bunch, armed with tablets and smartphones, which set out to solve Bangalore's biggest civic issue. And they made no bones that it was a pleasure trip.
First stop: Krishnagiri. After idlis, dosas and hot coffee, the contingent moved on, reaching Salem by 12.30pm.
Bangalore in-charge minister R Ramalinga Reddy and mayor BS Satyanarayana were given a ceremonious welcome by Hanjer Biotech Energies, which has set up the garbage disposal plant.
As company MD Nadeem Furniturewala explained the working of the plant, only Reddy, Satyanarayana and Lakshminarayana and an interested few listened in. Some corporators neither understood nor bothered to do so, as he was speaking in English.
The contingent was divided into three sections for the industrial visit, but many didn't bother to look closely at the facility. Instead, they spent their time shooting pictures of the plant and themselves with their tablets and cameras, and chattered away.
Then, they gathered at a pandal for an explanation in Kannada. This time, the women corporators went missing; they had retired to the AC buses to escape the heat.
After lunch at a posh hotel in Salem, the corporators lapped up their ice-cream and threw the cups by the roadside, while a few others flung them into a drain.
Little wonder Bangalore looks like it does.
