Bengaluru, 10 June

BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to Governor Thawarchand Gehlot on Wednesday, alleging that the State government had engineered a Rs 39,000-crore scam through a long-term garbage processing tender awarded to a private company.

Speaking to the press after submitting the memorandum, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka alleged that the government received a 10,000-crore kickback through the tender that the BWSSB awarded to the Delhi-based MSW Solutions Ltd, a child company of the Ramky Group. Ramky had been involved in the infamous Mavallipura landfill project.

Ashoka urged the Governor to launch an investigation into the tender process, claiming the contract had been awarded to a single company for 35 years at highly inflated rates, causing a massive financial burden on the public exchequer.

He later lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta and called for an impartial probe, alleging the scam was perpetuated by Chief Minister DK Shivakumar.

“This is the first time in the country's history that such a massive loot has taken place in the name of garbage. This is a ‘High-Command black-money tender’,” Ashoka told reporters at a press conference here.

Ashoka said that Bengaluru currently spends Rs 514 crore annually on garbage collection and transportation, Rs 380 crore on processing and disposal, and Rs 444 crore towards salaries of 11,000 civic workers, taking the total annual expenditure to Rs 1,344 crore.

Additionally, he noted that despite local contractors handling waste management work in the Greater Bengaluru Area (GBA) so far, the new Rs 39,000-crore tender had been awarded to a Delhi-based company.

Bengaluru had been divided into North and South packages and recommendations provided by the government-owned RITES had been ignored. Instead, he alleged, an unaccredited consultant had been engaged and the selected company had also been allowed to raise loans of up to Rs 1,500 crore with government land support. Notably, the Financial Department had also raised concerns over the proposal.

Ashoka said the South package carried a quoted increase of 19.43 per cent and the North package 19.25 per cent, resulting in an overall increase of 19.33 per cent.

Claiming that the financial burden had been inflated drastically, Ashoka said the tipping fee, currently Rs 260 per tonne, had been increased to Rs 2,400 per tonne under the new tender.