Mysuru: Former Minister and BJP leader S.A. Ramdas has alleged that garbage mafia was involved in indiscriminate sewage disposal at Excel Solid Waste Treatment Plant or Sewage Farm at Vidyaranyapuram here.

Ramdas, during the last week’s protest he held demanding a permanent solution for garbage problem at Vidyaranyapuram, had alleged that some officials were permitting garbage trucks from Kerala to dump waste at Vidyaranyapuram.

Yesterday, speaking to reporters at Pathrakarthara Bhavan, he went a step ahead by saying that the Sewage Farm was the result of illogical planning by Chief Minster Siddharamaiah who had sanctioned the Plant.

“Siddharamaiah approved the Solid Waste Management Plant in 1998 when he was the Deputy Chief Minister in J.H. Patel’s Cabinet. It was then said that it would function as a stop-gap arrangement, but that is not the case,” said Ramdas.

Dubbing the Solid Waste Management Plant an ‘illegitimate child’ of Siddharamaiah, Ramdas added, “What was supposed to be a temporary arrangement has become a permanent one because of the CM’s vested interests.”

When the Plant was being planned, a stay was brought from the Karnataka High Court. Then, Siddharamaiah ordered his team of advocates to file an affidavit in the Court that said the Plant was a temporary solution. The Court was misled and we are suffering because of this move,” he said.

Ramdas blamed Siddharamaiah Government of colluding with the garbage mafia and reiterated his claim that around 25 trucks from Kerala, leaden with garbage, were illegally dumping trash at Vidyaranyapuram Plant. “We found animal carcasses when we excavated the waste at the Plant,” he stated.

Over nine new Solid Waste Plants were sanctioned and set up in city to ease the pressure on Vidyaranyapuram Plant but of them, eight are closed down as the CM was influenced by the garbage mafia and all the waste is being dumped at Vidyaranyapuram, he said.

The senior BJP leader further alleged that nearly 30 migrants from Bangladesh were working at the Plant, and illegally segregating waste. “We have brought this issue to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner and the City Police Commissioner,” he said.

Ramdas said that pleas had been made seeking the intervention of the Central Pollution Control Board, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and the National Human Rights Commission to solve the problem.

Ramdas, however, pointed out that he was happy with the outcome of the discussions and deliberations with Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep and officials of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC). “The District Administration, MCC officials and other stakeholders have promised a permanent solution to the problem,” Ramdas said.

As a temporary arrangement, the eight Zero Waste Management Plants across the city will be activated by Dec.31. Consequently, this will reduce the burden on Sewage Farm, he said.

Denying that the protest was a political one, he said that nowhere the BJP logo was used. The agitation was taken up keeping the health of the people in mind who are suffering because of pollution, he added.