Premji for citizens’ movement against Bangalore’s garbage menace

Bangalore : The metamorphosis of Bangalore from a garden city into a garbage city drew the ire of Wipro chief Azim Premji, who Friday termed the problem a health hazard.

“I think it is a very serious problem. The amount of viral fever going around in Bangalore and waste materials being released into its lakes is ruining the health of everyone,” Premji told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

Exhorting citizens to stage protests and agitate against civic authorities for not clearing tonnes of garbage from across the city for over a month, Premji said though a pollution-control machinery was in place, it did not work.

“There should be a strong citizens’ movement against the garbage menace, as solid waste is being dumped into the river, which is used for supplying drinking water to many people of the city,” Premji said.

Expressing concern over garbage piled up across the city and spilling over to the streets, he said disposal of waste and its management should be taken up on war-footing.

With landfills on the city’s outskirts overflowing with mounds of garbage and people in nearby villages refusing to allow the ruling BJP-run Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike from dumping solid waste in their neighbourhood, the menace has drawn the attention of even global media, including the New York Times.