Bengaluru: In an attempt to give the BBMP a taste of its own medicine, the volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) collected garbage from 10 black spots in the city and dumped it at the civic body’s head office on Saturday.
Although the BBMP had prepared itself by locking both the entrances of the office - Vokkaliga Bhavan and Unity Building – this did not deter AAP volunteers. They dumped the garbage through the locked gates.
Even before the trash protest took off, nearly 70 volunteers were detained by the police near Town Hall, when the protestors were on their way to the BBMP head office.
However, undeterred by the setback, the volunteers divided themselves into small group and continue the protest. They were supported by some residents from Mandur and Mavallipura, who have been bearing the brunt of unscientific dumping.
AAP leader Prithvi Reddy told Deccan Chronicle, “We carried out a symbolic protest today. We had given four weeks’ time to the BBMP to clear the black spots in Mahalakshmi Layout, BTM Layout, Katriguppe, Koramangala, Vijayanagar, R.T. Nagar and Kasturi Nagar. However, our ultimatum fell on deaf ears and the BBMP did not take any action. We were forced to protest.”
After dumping garbage at the gates, a few volunteers, led by AAP leaders Prithvi Reddy and Ravikrishna Reddy, met mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy. The AAP volunteers said that although there were heated arguments between the Mayor and the leaders, Mr Reddy agreed to inspect the garbage black spots identified by the AAP volunteers.
“On Monday, the Mayor, along with senior AAP leaders, will visit Ejipura and surrounding areas to understand the problems of citizens, who are living amid garbage heaps,” an AAP volunteer said.
