Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd. will begin conservancy operations in the Teynampet zone of the Chennai Corporation next week and expand to Kodambakkam and Adyar zones by the end of the month.
The company replaces Neel Metal Fanalca, whose term ended on December 31. Ramky Enviro, which would cover 88 sq km, would be sweeping even interior roads, remove small bits of paper, clear garbage at night and segregate garbage during door-to-door collection.
Sources in Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd said a total of 82 big vehicles, including 66 compactors, 9 tippers for green waste, 12 emergency vehicles and 3 mechanical sweepers have been procured. “We are mobilising the vehicles. Already a consignment of tricycles has arrived in Chennai. A total of 1,500 tricycles each carrying six 50 litre bins would be put to use. We are also hiring 3,000 employees for conservancy operations,” he said.
“Officials of the Chennai Corporation are guiding us and letting us know about the problems of each area and we are planning accordingly,” he said.
Garbage clearance hit
As Ramky Enviro has been given time till January 20 to begin its operations in the three zones and Neel Metal Fanalca withdrawing its services, residents of many localities complain that garbage clearance has taken a backseat.
“During their contract period, NMF staff used to be seen on and off trying to do some work. But, for the past few days nothing has happened. There are piles of uncleared garbage lying everywhere,” said R.Sridharan, a resident of Kodambakkam.
“Garbage on Bazaar Road in Mylapore has not been removed for the past few days. Residents of our locality have been removing excess garbage on their own and dumping it in other localities nearby,” said S. Nedunchezhian, resident of Mylapore. Residents are tired of registering complaints with the Corporation, he added.
“The bin on our street corner was removed on Sunday. People now dump garbage on the road,” said G.Venkataraman, a resident of Pattammal Street, Mandaveli. Garbage clearance by the Corporation, as a stop-gap measure, is restricted to main roads. Interior roads are not being cleaned, he added.
The Corporation should have learnt from past experience. When the contract of conservancy firm Onyx ended and the next firm took over, a similar situation prevailed, recalled a former Corporation councillor. The reason for NMF's poor performance was the low rate that it quoted for every tonne of garbage. Their rate was Rs.650 to 700 per tonne, which was just half of what Onyx had charged. Ramky would get Rs.1,469 per tonne.
Corporation Commissioner P.W.C. Davidar said the ‘grace time' given for Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd. to begin full-fledged conservancy operations would be over by the end of January.
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