BANGALORE: Residents of Mandur are planning to launch a hunger strike from Friday against the dumping of the city’s garbage near the village. They took the decision at a meeting held at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday. Freedom fighter H S Doreswamy was among those present.
Shivaji Rao, a resident of Mandur, said the villagers will launch the hunger strike once the prohibitory orders are lifted.
“We are opposing the government’s and the BBMP’s decision. They have suppressed our struggle by clamping the prohibitory orders. We shall sit there day and night, protest peacefully and follow Gandhiji’s Ahimsa model,” he stated.
Doreswamy told reporters that Mandur villagers are suffering from various ailments due to the dumping of garbage in their backyard.
“Instead of stopping flow of waste to Mandur, Minister Ramalinga Reddy is speaking of sending more waste to Mandur. I shall be with the Mandur villagers. There is no question of stepping back from the protest,” he said.
Mayor Plans Village Stay
Now, Mayor B S Sathyanarayana and his team are likely stay at Mandur overnight to try to understand the villagers’ problems. “We are ready for a Grama Vastavya at Mandur. Prohibitory orders are imposed at Mandur now. We will stay there for one night after the prohibitory orders are lifted,” he said.
Sathyanarayana also said he and the BBMP officers will visit Mandur once a week and spend at least four hours there.
Meanwhile, Reddy maintained that Grama Vastavya is not the way to go about the simmering crisis. “If we go and stay there overnight, will the problem be solved?,” he asked. He, however, said it is the BBMP’s duty to make sure that waste is disposed of properly.
Sathyanarayana and team also held a video conference with a Spain-based company on Wednesday evening and discussed methods to manage waste effectively.