ACB to probe Rs 384-crore garbage scam

A woman covers her nose as she passes by the garbage mound at KR Market in Bengaluru on Friday. DH PHOTO/S K DINESH

The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) will investigate the Rs 384-crore scam in BBMP’s solid waste management programme.

The Urban Development Department issued an order two years after BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad recommended a CID probe.

Officials had utilised Rs 550 crore in the name of salaries, provident fund and ESI benefits to 6,600 pourakarmikas who existed only on paper.

Till 2016, solid waste management cost Rs 385 crore. When bills went up to Rs 1,066 crore in 2017, BJP city unit spokesperson N R Ramesh wrote to the ACB, which took up the case on June 19.