District In-charge Minister R Ramalinga Reddy took BBMP officials to task on Monday for failing to dispose of garbage effectively.
At a review meeting at the BBMP head office, he told officials: “Lame excuse of being preoccupied with election duties will not serve the purpose. Within 15 days, there should be some progress or officials will be sent to their parent departments. Those with the BBMP will have to face suspension.”
Reddy said BBMP engineers and health officials are responsible for intensive cleaning and waste disposal.
“Joint commissioners should monitor these activities. Garbage disposal is not the job of only junior engineers, seniors should also be involved,” Reddy said.
He asked Yelahanka Zone Joint Commissioner Virupaksha M to take action on BGV India Ltd, a garbage contractor, after zonal corporators complained about issues in garbage disposal.
Executive Engineer Srinivas Reddy said the BBMP has imposed a fine of `1.25 crore on the company for failing to implement its proposal but has cleared its bill of `24 crore.
The engineer reminded the minister that when the BBMP wanted to remove the company from garbage management, it approached the court and got a stay.
The officer was lambasted for clearing the company’s bill and imposing a fine of only `1.25 crore for ineffective implementation of its task.
Reddy directed the officials to take action against shops which sell plastic below 40 microns and said the BBMP Health Department should pull up its socks in this regard.
Commissoner M Lakshminarayana said that to set an example, 100 shops in each zone will be raided and hoped the move would encourage traders to follow norms to make the city clean and green.
Mayor B S Sathyanarayana’s ire was directed at officials.
“Joint commissioners have become lazy. The town planning officials should also be part of this process, but they are not showing any interest. Even they should be put to task,” he said.
He said the storm water drains should be cleaned to facilitate water flow. If it is not done, there will be water logging and floods in a few areas when it rains heavily. There will be another meeting on May 25 to check the progress in these works, he said.