Bengaluru: Known by monikers such as ‘strongman’ and ‘troubleshooter’, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar has expressed his helplessness in addressing Bengaluru’s garbage problem due to the interference of a powerful group.
He said that the ‘garbage mafia’ is a formidable entity that is keeping the administration from discharging its duties and finding an effective solution for the waste management–or mismanagement–in India’s IT capital.
“We are making a lot of efforts to fix the garbage issue but the garbage mafia is doing everything to derail this. They have filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) to stop us from taking steps to clear the garbage issue,” Shivakumar said in a statement Wednesday.
He even went on to say that he was “moving heaven and earth” to loosen the grip of the ‘garbage mafia’ but he, like the political opposition, was not successful so far—a rare admission of failure by the deputy chief minister.
For years, the ‘garbage mafia’ have controlled the waste management sector, valued at several hundred crores annually, carrying out their operations brazenly and defying the government of the day.
Bengaluru
This is the stretch from Vega City Mall to Dairy Circle.
Metro line is ready but entire divider is filled with garbage, right under brand-new pillars.
If construction is over, why can’t this be Cleaned, Filled & Beautified?
Is this the Smart City we were promissed? pic.twitter.com/6UgY4Hmu5H
— #YeThikKarkeDikhao (@YTKDIndia) October 10, 2025
Former corporators and corporation officials say that the lobby has an iron grip on garbage collection and the large contract-based workforce used for its operations.
ThePrint spoke to political leaders and civic workers who explained how the city’s garbage mafia operates. Each time the government tries to tighten its grip or take back control of waste management, these workers are forced to go on strike, leaving the city in a stinking mess. The government then buckles under pressure and criticism from the larger public, returning to the lobby to clear the mess.
However, this is not the first time that Shivakumar has trained his guns on this powerful group.
In March, Shivakumar had told the Upper House of Karnataka legislature that these garbage contractors had formed a powerful cartel to raise the tender price by 85 percent. The deputy chief minister added that each time he tried to find a solution, he was being ‘blackmailed’ by Bengaluru legislators, which included leaders from all parties.
In the 2023 Karnataka elections, the Congress bagged 12 out of the 28 seats in Bengaluru while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the remaining 16.
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‘Politicians a part of nexus’
With a population of around 14 million people, Bengaluru generates around 3,500 metric tons (mt) of solid waste everyday. There are nearly 3 million households in the city and around 18,500 pourakarmikas, or civic workers, working with the erstwhile civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
By its own admission, the BBMP says around 80 percent of all waste collection and transportation activities are outsourced.
Earlier this year, the Siddaramaiah-led Cabinet approved a Rs 4,791 crore tender for garbage disposal in Bengaluru for a period of seven years, which the Karnataka High Court stayed in June after a petition filed by a section of the garbage contractors association.
“The first and foremost is the claim of Bengaluru generating 3500 mt. Has this ever been assessed? According to me and other officials, this number is less than half of the claim,” said a former government official who was directly involved with the erstwhile BBMP.
The person added that this was a “big nexus” of groups which includes politicians, contractors and their lackeys.
According to a 2022 report by the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (C-STEP), around 1,456 tonnes per year of PM10 and 1,412 tonnes a year of PM2.5 comes from burning of waste in the city.
“Landfill fire is quite common in India because of unscientific landfilling and decomposition. Though combustion can lead to fires, fire is also used frequently as a tool to clear landfill areas to accommodate new garbage,” it says.
Although municipal solid waste burning is illegal, according to a 2016 order by the National Green Tribunal, burning of MSW by the roadside or in empty lands is common across India, including Bengaluru, according to the study.
Waste burning, according to the report, accounts for 6 percent of the total PM10 particulate matter and 10 percent of total PM2.5 emissions that contributes to the decline of air quality in Bengaluru
‘Can’t question contractors’
In 2012, the garbage crisis in Bengaluru made global headlines as nearby villages refused to allow their land to be used for dumping garbage. Five years on, the Karnataka government invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to stop civic workers from protesting as waste piled up across all localities of the city. These workers had gone on a protest over non-payment of wages.
Several officials and former corporators who ThePrint reached out to, refused to talk about the ‘garbage mafia’.
“The contractors take away a big chunk of our earnings, and we cannot even ask them about it. There are times that we are not paid months on end and the contractor just blames the corporation for not having cleared bills,” said one civic worker in Bengaluru’ eastern zone.
There are several such stories of underpaid and exploited workers, mostly from the most oppressed communities, under these contractors.
In May, Siddaramaiah granted permanent employment to over 12,650 pourakarmikas affiliated with the erstwhile BBMP. He added that more people will be given permanent jobs in the future and reduce the interference by middlemen. Now, Shivakumar’s statement indicates that the mafia continues to thrive.
“If the government claims it cannot do anything about the ‘garbage mafia’, it should resign. The only reason they do not do anything about it is because most of them are in on the scam,” another former government official said.
Meanwhile, a section of Bengaluru residents as well as the BJP took potshots at Shivakumar for his statements expressing helplessness.
Aarin Capital founder Mohandas Pai lashed out at the deputy chief minister for his statements. “@DKShivakumar you are the strongest most powerful Minister in India. How can you make this statement. Please shut down the mafias. All citizens will support you,” Pai said.
“The question is which politicians of which political party are part of this garbage mafia? From what citizens say, politicians from all political parties are involved. So@BJP4India should clean up its act, identify its members involved and Act. Both parties have high corruption with succeeding govts being more corrupt,” he said in another post.
Like Pai, the opposition BJP mocked Shivakumar. “Have moved heaven and earth, but mafias not allowing us to clean garbage: @DKShivakumar. Translation: The mafias run the city, @INCKarnataka is incompetent and powerless,” it said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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