Bangalore, Aug 24 (PTI) : Taking a potshot at the city corporation for its gross negligence in clearing the piled up garbage, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj today offered to clear the waste himself after his requests fell on deaf ears of the BJP-ruled civic body.

"I had directed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike BBMP) officials to clear the garbage piled up across the city, but they have failed to take any steps to do it. If I get the help of 20-odd people I myself will clear the waste," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

Lambasting the BBMP officials, Bhardwaj wondered whether the local administration has turned blind and could not see the dirt spilled across the city. "Bangalore, which had earned the sobriquet of "Garden City", has turned into a "Garbage City," he lamented.

BBMP officials should take immediate steps to clean the accumulated garbage and avoid expressing inability to do it, Bhardwaj said.

The Governor also said the District Incharge Minister R Ashok should solve the problem by engaging additional contractors to clear garbage.

"Maintaining clean city should be given priority, nobody should forget this. For administrators public interest is very important.  Even if they don't do anything else let them remove the garbage," he added.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President G Parameshwar who went round the city took strong exception to the BBMP's failure to remove the garbage and warned of an agitation if no action was taken immediately.

BJP leader in the BBMP N Nagaraj said about 100 lorries were engaged to remove the garbage. Officials in 198 wards have been asked to take action and work round the clock until all garbage were cleared.

Ashok has assured to sanction Rs one lakh for removing the garbage and by tomorrow evening the work would be completed.

With two of the three major landfills shut and the threat of closure looming large over the third one, the entire garbage disposal apparatus  has virtually collapsed in the city.

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