BJP alleges ₹39,000-cr scam in waste management tender process in Bengaluru, seeks probe

Bengaluru: Amid the city’s deepening garbage crisis, with mounting public outrage over rising blackspots and a failing solid waste management system, opposition leader R Ashoka Wednesday alleged a Rs 39,000-crore scam in the city’s Integrated solid waste management (ISWM) tender process. He accused Congress-led govt of turning garbage management into what he termed a “massive corruption racket”.

Ashoka, along with leader of opposition in legislative council Chalawadi Narayanaswamy and others, submitted complaints to the governor and Lokayukta, seeking an independent investigation. Ashoka said: “The deal has come with nearly Rs 10,000-crore kickbacks, and this will be historic loot in the name of garbage.”

He alleged the state govt has pushed through a 30 to 35-year garbage-processing contract worth Rs 39,000 crore under Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), awarding it to MSW Solutions Limited —reportedly linked to Ramky Group — through manipulated tender conditions and procedural violations.

“Bengaluru is drowning in garbage mismanagement and corruption, and the latest tender is compounding the sanitation crisis,” he said. The project, split into north and south Bengaluru packages, was floated twice without success and cleared only in the third attempt, he alleged, after key eligibility conditions were relaxed to enable previously disqualified bidders to qualify.

Claiming the finance department itself had raised red flags over the project, Ashoka said: “Officials had cautioned against awarding both packages to a single company, a 30-year concession with a five-year extension, and steep annual escalation clauses that could burden GBA finances for decades. Despite these objections, the project was pushed through, overriding caution from officials.”

He highlighted a sharp cost escalation, stating that the tipping fee has jumped from about Rs 260 per tonne to Rs 2,400 per tonne—an increase of nearly 950%. He pointed out that while the earlier system would have cost around rs 6,117 crore over 30 years, the new contract pushes the figure beyond Rs 39,000 crore, placing an “unbearable burden on taxpayers already struggling with civic breakdown.”

In the complaint, Ashoka alleged that the tender process was “pre-decided”, with an informal understanding to favour Ramky-linked entities even before bids were invited. He flagged repeated revisions to the detailed project report (DPR), prepared initially by RITES Limited, saying successive changes in tipping fee estimates raised serious concerns over transparency and financial prudence.

He also pointed to alleged irregularities in land acquisition for the project and warned that unresolved legacy waste at the proposed site could trigger further cost escalations through biomining and remediation charges. Ashoka claimed that procurement norms under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act were bypassed, with consultants changed and conditions altered mid-process to suit specific bidders.