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Garbage scam raises a stink

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Times of India 21.07.2009

Garbage scam raises a stink

Bangalore : Close on the heels of the Karnataka Housing Board scam comes yet another scam that has created quite a ruckus in the assembly.
Opposition parties have sought CBI probe into the Rs 100-crore garbage scam in the BBMP.

Raising the issue in the council, opposition leader V S Ugrappa distributed copies of an inquiry report, which stated that 30 medical officers, three health officers, 30 contractors and 26 BBMP employeeswere 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 time BBMP had paid around Rs 110 crore to contractors.

Demanding a discussion on the issue and CBI probe, Ugrappa said: "Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is the Bangalore development minister. No action has been initiated against the guilty, even after eight months of obtaining the inquiry report. The CM has to take responsibility for this.''

As per the agreement, the contractor should have ensured the following functions -- road sweeping, garbage removal, removing silt from the drains, removing weeds, cleaning public toilets, removing garbage from vacant sites and removing illegal buntings and banners.

Suspecting goof-ups, the issue was handed over to Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force IGP N R Nadamani for investigation. Nadamani in his report in November 2008 had made the following observations:

* The officers and contractors have colluded and misappropriated money. The officers have failed in monitoring the effective removal of garbage and have not followed the prescribed procedures.

* Between March 2007 and June 2008, the contractors have encashed Rs 110.79 crore from the BBMP.

* The contractors have flouted norms and misappropriated crores of rupees. They have not done their job properly and not disposed garbage at designated sites. They have also failed to maintain a log book, keep track of labourers' attendance, PF details, and not issued salaries through cheques.

* 70% of the assigned work was not carried out in one of the packages. Recover 50% of the Rs 101.95 crore paid to the contractors. Also, recover Rs 8.84 crore from the contractors as they have not maintained logbooks to submit lead bills.

Admitting that corruption had become all pervasive, medical education minister Ramachandra Gowda said a re-inquiry had been ordered into the scam in February 2009 and they had received the report in May.
 

BMC panel passes plan for dumping site closure

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Times of India 21.07.2009

BMC panel passes plan for dumping site closure

MUMBAI: The BMC standing committee may have managed to escape the Bombay high court's ire by clearing a crucial Rs 4,408-crore proposal on Monday for the Deonar dumping ground's scientific closure. The same panel had earlier ignored repeated warnings from the judiciary for failure to come up with concrete steps for the dump site's development.

Pointing to the repercussions of yet another denial, committee members said they did not want to take any chances. "We will be implicated for contempt of court if we don't pass this proposal. The court is very clear in holding both bureaucrats and elected representatives responsible for playing with citizens' lives,'' said BJP corporator Ashish Shelar.

The committee had rejected the proposal, which was first tabled late last year. Fearing the high court's contempt proceedings against the BMC, the civic administration re-submitted the proposal last week. The court had slammed both the administration and the corporation for hampering citizens' "freedom to life'' by not doing their best to ease the woes of lakhs.

The court has initiated contempt proceedings against civic chief Jairaj Phatak for the BMC's failure to reduce pollution in and around Deonar. The Smoke Affected Residents' Forum had filed a PIL in 1996 demanding its closure. On June 7, an angry high court said the court had given numerous opportunities to the civic administration to rectify the situation, but it had repeatedly failed.

"Prima facie, it appears that apart from taking some superficial steps, the BMC has not made any concrete efforts. This is the last opportunity to the administration and related civic committees to bring about improvement. It is a matter of public health and we will not tolerate any further delay,'' the high court order read.

Mumbai generates 10,000 tonnes of waste a day, 70% of which is dumped on the saturated Deonar ground. The project would scientifically close half the ground and make the other half a sanitary landfill. The same public-private partnership model is to be repeated at Mulund and Kanjurmarg, helping ease the city's garbage woes

 

Rs 5 cr for installing ETPs

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Deccan Herald 21.07.2009

‘Pipes of hospitals will be changed at a cost of Rs 1 cr’

Rs 5 cr for installing ETPs
Bangalore, DH News Service:

A staggering 1.07 tonnes of solid waste and over 1,400 kilolitres of liquid waste are discharged everyday by six hospitals in the City.

To a query by H C Neeravari JD (S) at the Legislative Council on Monday, Medical Education Minister Ramachandra Gowda said the hospitals which come under medical education department are Victoria Hospital, Vani Vilas Hospital, Minto Hospital, Bowring Hospital, Government Dental College and Research Centre and STD, Tuberculosis and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest diseases.

Victoria Hospital alone accounts for 300 kg solid waste and 400 kilolitres of liquid waste.

Incidentally, Victoria, Vani Vilas, Bowring and Minto are among the hospitals which were issued notices by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to set up effluent treatment plants (ETPs).

On a query by Malajamma (Congress) on installation of ETPs, the minister said the government has requested the Lok Adalat to give them time till February, to carry out the implementation.

In reply, he said that since some of the hospitals were over 100 years old, the pipes didn’t have the required capacity and therefore the pipes are also being changed at a cost of Rs 1 crore.

Gowda said the government had already deposited Rs 5 crore for the purpose.

 

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 06:35
 


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