Chennai holds its nose as contractor tackles own mess

A Pet project of Local Administration Minister M K Stalin, the privatisation of Chennai conservancy is currently raising a stink

A Pet project of Local Administration Minister M K Stalin, the privatisation of Chennai conservancy is currently raising a stink, with the new contractor failing to live up to the task since it took over on August 26.

As garbage heaps grow bigger across the city, a red-faced Chennai Corporation attributed the non-arrival of the 3,700 bins which were to collect the rubbish to a fire in the Sintex factory in Gujarat which was to supply them.

Grappling with the backlog, the Delhi-based Neel Metal Products, a collaborator of Fanalca S A, Columbia, which was awarded the contract for collecting 1,100 tonnes of garbage every day from three of the 10 zones in Chennai, has come in for flak from the public.

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The Chennai Corporation too has issued a legal notice to Neel Metal, threatening a review of its contract if the company failed to measure up soon.

The Corporation resorted to the notice after it had to deploy own conservancy workers and turn to the previous contractor, CES Onyx —- which had been cleaning up the streets of Chennai in the three zones for seven years and won accolades for it —- to clear the garbage. But piles still remain in upmarket Adyar, Kodambakkam and Ice House.

Defending its inability to rise to the occasion right at the start of its contract, Neel Metal representatives blamed attrition of workers —- while it hired 2,700 workers through agents, by the time the date for taking charge from Onyx neared, the company realised it was left with just 1,200 of them.

This, compounded with the lack of equipment, added to the company’s woes, leaving three huge zones in the city stinking.

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While Neel Metal received the Letter of Award from Chennai Corporation on July 25, even a month’s time seemed to have been insufficient for the company to get its act together. The 32 compactors, used to collect and transfer the garbage, as well as 10 ‘hook’ loaders and 25 containers have not arrived.

“But we hope to clear the backlog and clean up Chennai soon,” P S Batra, Chief Executive Officer, Neel Metal, said.

There were also allegations that Onyx had slowed down operations in the run-up to the handover, including cutting down manpower.

But Neel Metal Vice-President S Pattabhiraman refused to blame Onyx, saying the non-arrival of the collection bins and shortage of manpower had been the prime reason for the garbage pile-up. The company has proposed door-to-door waste collection so that bins can be done away with in many places.

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