Day-to-day conservancy operations in many residential neighbourhoods have been disrupted, leading to piling up of garbage in many areas.
The delay in identification of a private conservancy operator, the inability of the existing private operator to deploy manpower and the faulty implementation of source segregation have been the major causes of the poor conservancy operations in the city.
Jaya Lakshmi of Padhmanabha Nagar in Adyar said the Corporation has removed bins in many areas to promote the zero waste initiative, source segregation and door-to-door collection. “Garbage has piled up at spots where bins have been removed. Residents want to support source segregation and door-to-door collection. We are segregating waste. But garbage clearance is not regular,” she said.
Another resident of the Adyar zone, Thiruvengadam, said, “It is very difficult for pedestrians to walk on the roads and footpaths because of poor conservancy work. Ramky [the private conservancy operator] supervisors say they are short of hands. Conservancy work is very haphazard,” he said.
Velachery resident Kumara Raja said the private conservancy operator did not send vehicles to clear garbage in many parts on Sunday. “They clear garbage once in three days. Garbage has piled up along roads of Baby Nagar and Tansi Nagar,” said Mr. Raja. Residents of CIT Colony First Main Road, in Teynampet zone, said garbage had piled up for the past few days. Perambur resident Ahmed Sirajuddin said residents of Jamalia Link Road were dumping garbage in a damaged stormwater drain, which posed a health hazard in the area.
At a meeting with residents’ welfare associations last week, Chennai Corporation officials had assured the residents that they would provide details of conservancy workers in the next two days to the associations to promote zero garbage initiatives. But the associations are yet to get the details of conservancy workers, a member said.
New system
Corporation officials said the issues in garbage clearance were because of the transition from an old system to a new one. “We have removed bins from many areas to promote zero garbage. We will deploy adequate manpower for door-to-door collection shortly. We will take action against the private conservancy operator and against those workers responsible for pile up of garbage,” said a civic official.
According to sources in the Corporation, the extension in time of three months for the private conservancy operator has led to a dip in the number of workers. Each ward has 62-65 workers on record. But the private operator sends only 48 workers, the sources said.
For example, Teynampet zone had 1,200 conservancy workers a few years ago. Now the number has reduced to 600.
The private conservancy operator has, however, maintained a record of 900 workers, the sources say, adding that the operator has been sending workers only to sites where senior officials conduct inspections.
“The by-laws of the Corporation require one worker for every 500 m. But every worker cleans 1,500 m nowadays,” said a conservancy worker.
