BENGALURU: Even after holding a third round of meeting with officials from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), garbage contractors continued to maintain that they will go on strike from January 1.
SN Balasubramanya, head of the garbage contractors’ association, said, “At the meeting, BBMP officials, including the Chief Commissioner, admitted that there were lapses by the city corporation on finances. They sought time to address the issue, but we pointed out that from January 1, GST comes into effect and it will be applicable even to us. We will go on strike if the issues are not resolved.”
He said they held meetings with Principal Secretary Manjunath Prasad and additional chief secretary, urban development department, Rakesh Singh. But they remained inconclusive. “Over the last few months, we are facing problems because of the service tax issue.
Now we do not want to face any more problems. If the BBMP has understood the problem, there should be no difficulty for them to fix it. As they are dragging their feet, we have decided to go ahead with the strike. The BBMP has two days to take a decision,” he said.
The contractors association submitted a memorandum to BBMP on December 24, after which it was decided to hold a meeting on December 28. Since it was inconclusive, another meeting was held on December 29. BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said all measures are being taken for the welfare of the contractors.