Siddaramaiah in Delhi: No garbage cess in highly taxed state

According to the CM, accessing funds and creating an institutional framework for utilization of these funds optimally is an important need. Funds from corporates under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and other external sources need to be routed through a state level Swachh Bharat Kosh or Cell, he said.

He also stressed the need for bringing behavioural change at the personal and societal level to effectively implement the Swachh Bharat programme. "We must remain conscious of the challenges of bringing in attitudinal and cultural changes that get aligned with inspirational motivations of India’s urban and rural population. The approach of Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) aims to trigger the community and ignite behaviour change at the individual and societal level," Mr Siddaramaiah said.

Delivering his address to the sub-group of Swacha Bharat programme, Mr Siddaramaiah said a communication strategy should be in place to motivate individuals to change. So, clear directions on the availability and earmarking of human and financial resources are required under the programme. He stressed the need for strengthening foot soldiers in this campaign through convergence with relevant stakeholders to take up BCC activities.

The much-awaited expansion of the cabinet is likely to be put off at least till early November. This was the indication Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, gave on Wednesday saying dates for cabinet expansion or cabinet reshuffle cannot be fixed at this juncture.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of CMs on ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission in New Delhi, he shot back: “How can anyone fix dates for carrying out that (cabinet) exercise? Only after I landed here, I came to know that Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, has left for the US, while general secretary, Digvijay Singh, is yet to arrive from the US. Therefore, I have not held talks with anyone about the exercise. So, how can I fix the dates now?"

He said that he arrived in New Delhi with an intention to discuss the issue with central leaders but could not do so because of the absence of leaders concerned in Delhi. Reacting sharply to Mr Siddaramaiah's statement, several leaders who are camping in Delhi are seething with anger and on the condition of anonymity disclosed to this newspaper that Mr Siddaramaiah does not have any inclination to carry out the exercise itself. "Mr Siddaramaiah proved once again that he will not be carrying out expansion or reshuffle at all in the near future. At least, he will surely push this exercise until zilla panchayat polls are over in next January," said one of them.

The leader said that one could be rest assured that Mr Siddaramaiah would not broach this topic with central leaders as most of these leaders would be busy with polls in Bihar.

"Once these elections are over, the state will be bracing up to face another round of polls, zilla panchayat polls. So, he has many excuses to postpone the expansion on one or the other grounds," the leader added.