The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Protest against privatisation of garbage clearance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 29, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Protest against privatisation of garbage clearance

Staff Reporter

Corporation council all set to discuss the issue at its meeting today

CHENNAI: The Madras Red Flag Union on Thursday protested against the proposed extension of privatisation of garbage management in Chennai Corporation's Pulianthope Zone. Its members have also urged the State Government to also drop its proposals to extend privatisation in Triplicane, Kodambakkam and Adyar zones.

A group of conservancy workers gathered in front on the Corporation zonal office in Pulianthope on Thursday afternoon and raised slogans in support their demands. They said they would hold a protest within the Ripon Buildings complex on January 5 to get the attention of the decision-makers.

The Corporation Works Committee, comprising a group of elected councillors, had recently proposed that privatisation of garbage clearance be extended to Pulianthope Zone, along with the three zones where Onyx is operating now. Chennai Corporation's 7-year contract with Onyx expires this February. The civic agency is currently paying the private operator Rs.1,212 for a tonne of mixed garbage from three zones.

The Chennai Corporation council which convenes on Friday, meanwhile, will deliberate on whether the contract with Onyx could be extended beyond February and when competitive bids for the work could be called for. Onyx has been lifting around 1,200 tonnes of unsegregated garbage, including construction debris, and dumping it at Corporation dumping ground in Perungudi. Its services are now costing the exchequer close to Rs.30 crore a year.

S.Purushotaman, secretary of Madras Red Flag Union, said the civic agency had already faced audit objections over privatisation of three zones since March 2000. "They have already struggled to accommodate the workers from the privatised zones in other departments. The State Government should not approve of extending the privatisation to Pulianthope and must altogether drop its plans for privatisation of solid waste management."

It is likely that the Corporation Council on Friday will leave it to the government to take a call on privatisation of solid waste management. So far it has not called for competitive bids and it is likely that the present contract with Onyx will be extended, at least by a few months.

However, it remains to be seen how long the government would extend its contract with Onyx or whether it calls for competitive bids immediately. Already the civic agency is running late on implementation on some key practices prescribed by the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000. Scientific solid waste management looks at reducing the amount of garbage reaching the dumping grounds. The civic agency does have any system to achieve that goal yet.

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