Mangaluru : Taking exception to the delay on the part of the former Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S. in inquiring into last month’s garbage slip from the landfill site at Pachchanady, Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, here on Thursday directed the district administration to complete the inquiry and initiate criminal action against persons responsible.

Chairing A district development, coordination and monitoring committee meeting, Mr. Kateel said the garbage slip on August 17 was a man-made disaster that has damaged 19 of the 27 houses in the area besides bringing down several coconut and arecanut palms.

“Those responsible should be made accountable for the damage. Residents are forced to bear with the stench (from the leachete),” he said.

When Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer R. Selvamani said the inquiry was yet to be initiated, Mr. Kateel said, “It’s over a month since the incident took over. Mr. Senthil (who has tendered his resignation to the civil service) should have inquired and submitted the report to the government.”

He added that an official [Mr. Senthil] who found fault with democratic processes had failed to fix accountability for this grave lapse.

He directed Mr. Selvamani to ensure the completion of the inquiry in a week. “An FIR has to be lodged in this case,” Mr. Kateel said.

Earlier, Mangaluru City Corporation’s Environment Engineer Madhu S. Manohar said 97 people from the 27 affected houses have been moved to an apartment in HUDCO colony nearby.

Mr. Manohar said the agency managing the compost plant, which processes about 200 tonnes of waste every day, was also maintaining the landfill site. The city generates around 370 tonnes of waste of which 200 tonnes was being processed while the remaining 170 tonnes was being dumped at the landfill site.

While Mr. Manohar said breach of the bund to the landfill site led to garbage flowing down to Kudupu Mandara area, the Health Officer of the corporation Manjaiah Shetty said dousing fire at landfill site with water few days before the heavy rain had accentuated the problem.

Mr. Kateel said, “I have details on the irregularities going on at the dumping site and how the civic body has been held hostage by the city’s solid waste management contractor.”