Villagers lock up municipal officials on inspection tour, offer them food mixed with garbage to show them what happens in their area every day when uncovered trucks carrying waste race past their kitchens
Villagers lock up municipal officials on inspection tour, offer them food mixed with garbage to show them what happens in their area every day when uncovered trucks carrying waste race past their kitchens
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Villagers on the outskirts of Bangalore locked up senior municipal officials yesterday and offered them garbage to eat to give them an idea of what the village was going through.
The officials transport garbage to Mavallipura, near Hesaraghatta, in open trucks. The garbage flies into village homes, and often lands in cooking vessels.
Outraged villagers stopped the officials yesterday and pushed them into a room. They locked them up, and then fetched food mixed with garbage. "Eat this," they ordered.
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Junk food: Villagers in Mavallipura served visiting officials 'adulterated' fare illustration/satish acharya |
What a tour!
Venkateshappa, Joint Commissioner (health), Maheswara Rao, Special Commissioner, A K Gopalaswamy, Engineer in Chief, and other engineers had gone on an inspection tour and were taken aback at the extent of the villagers' ire.
Houseflies and mosquitoes infest the area. The trouble began in 2007 when a solid waste processing and disposal plant was commissioned in Mavallipura.
The plant, run by the Ramki Group, receives 300 trucks of waste, on an average, daily. The waste must be carried in closed trucks, but the BBMP has ignored that rule.
'Stay a week'
The villagers asked the BBMP officials to stay with them for a week to understand their plight. When one of the officials asked for food at lunchtime, a villager brought rice and sambar mixed with garbage from his kitchen.
"I felt very bad to know that the villagers are consuming contaminated food," said Venkateshappa. "I will see that the problem is solved, but not before taking the garbage transport contractors to task."
The officers were detained at 11.30 am and freed at 5 pm, after the police and local politicians intervened and pacified the villagers.
Venkateshappa also promised to plant trees in the area. He said he didn't have to eat the 'dirty food'. "The villagers relented and offered us clean food after our officers had apologised," he said.
Mavallipura?
About an hour from Vidhana Soudha, and a short distance from Nrityagram, the dance village founded by Protima Gauri.
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