The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Cleaning of most Chennai arterial roads to be privatised

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 17, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Cleaning of most Chennai arterial roads to be privatised

By Akhila Seetharaman

CHENNAI, DEC. 16. From January, most arterial roads in the city will be cleaned, not by the Chennai Corporation but by private agencies.

After a month-long test run on Nungambakkam High Road, Cathedral Road and Waltax Road the civic body plans to privatise street cleaning on many stretches; this time for a three-month trial period. The Corporation is inviting private players to apply for the job.

Despite all efforts to implement door-to-door garbage collection and get the residents to segregate garbage, the city will not look clean without an effective mechanism to clean streets, said a senior Corporation official.

At present cleaning and conservancy work goes on till 2 p.m. But for the city to look clean, the roads will have to be spruced up by 10.30 a.m.

He stressed the importance of completing the work early in the day.

The arterial roads have been divided into six packages of 25 km each. The agencies responsible for each area will have to collect garbage before 7.30 a.m.

Workers will not only sweep the roads but also brush them. One sweeper will be posted every half kilometre for a single shift in the morning.

These efforts will give a facelift to the city's cleanliness as per the directions of the Chief Minister, said M.P. Vijayakumar, Commissioner. Private agencies will have to collect only segregated garbage.

Corporation workers, who are now cleaning main roads, will be deployed for the job on interior roads.

Tender applications

The roads to be cleaned by private agencies include Anna Salai, Poonamallee High Road, Paper Mills Road, Anna Nagar first, second, third and fourth avenues, New Avadi Road, Jawaharlal Nehru Ring Road, Coonoor High Road, NSC Bose Road, Rajaji Salai, Perambur Barracks Road, Purasawalkam High Road, Nungambakkam High Road, Cathedral Road, Waltax Road, Gandhi Irwin Road, Pantheon Road and Greams Road.

Tender applications will be available till December 22. The last date for submission is December 24.

Privatisation opposed

Unhappy with the move to privatise conservancy work, a section of workers belonging to the Madras Corporation Red Flag Union held protests in the offices of zones VII and III during the last fortnight. Arguing that privatisation bred corruption, they alleged that the volume of garbage supposedly collected increased dramatically when the job was done by a private agency.

For, it was paid on the basis of weight.

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