This statement followed allegations made by Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, R Ashoka, who contended that the Congress government orchestrated the ‘scam’ in Bengaluru’s waste management sector and received a ₹10,000-crore kickback through a long-term garbage processing contract awarded to a private firm.
Ashoka later submitted a complaint to Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, requesting an investigation into the tendering process, asserting that the contract had been awarded to a single company for 35 years at excessively inflated rates, placing a heavy financial burden on the public treasury.
In a post on X, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla asserted that the purported scam represents yet another in a series of corruption cases linked to the Congress government.
“Following the MUDA scam, contractor scam, housing scam, liquor scam, and land scam, Karnataka is now facing a monumental garbage scam valued at ₹39,000 crore,” Poonawalla claimed.
He noted that the tipping fee for waste disposal surged from approximately ₹260 per tonne to ₹2,400 per tonne, marking an increase of nearly 950%.
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Poonawalla stated that while the previous system would have cost around ₹6,117 crore over 30 years, the new contract will exceed ₹39,000 crore.
“The previous arrangement would have incurred expenses of about ₹6,117 crore over three decades. The new contract escalates the total beyond ₹39,000 crore, imposing an intolerable burden on taxpayers already facing civic challenges,” he said.
The BJP spokesperson further alleged that the tendering process was “pre-determined,” with an informal agreement favoring specific entities even before bids were requested.
He also pointed to frequent revisions to the detailed project report (DPR), originally drafted by RITES Limited, and questioned the successive adjustments in tipping fee estimates.
Poonawalla claimed there were irregularities in land acquisition tied to the project and accused officials of bypassing procurement norms established by the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act.
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“Consultant teams were switched and terms modified mid-process to accommodate certain bidders,” he added.
Echoing similar claims, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari stated in a post on X, “Congress means exploitation, exploitation means Congress.” Bhandari alleged that “significant irregularities” have been uncovered in the ₹39,437 crore waste management tender and accused the state government of prioritizing political interests over effective governance.
“Bengaluru is overwhelmed with garbage, Congress is profiting from it, and the Chief Minister is preoccupied with silencing internal dissent,” he alleged.
The Congress government in Karnataka has yet to respond to these allegations.
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