The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Corporation moves in to clear garbage in Onyx zones

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 08, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Corporation moves in to clear garbage in Onyx zones

Staff Reporter

Strike by staff of the private conservancy operator affects garbage clearance

PILE UP AND CLEARANCE: Garbage left uncleared at Bharathi Street near Zambazaar market due to the strike by CES ONYX staff (left), and Corporation workers step in to clear the accumulated refuse (right). — Photos: M. Vedhan and N. Sridharan

CHENNAI: The strike by the employees of private conservancy operator Onyx, taking care of garbage clearance in Corporation zones VI (Ice House), VIII (Kodambakkam) and X (Adyar), entered the third day on Tuesday.

As talks continued between the employees and the private management, the Chennai Corporation used its employees and resources to clear the garbage pile up in the areas. By evening, the civic agency pressed into action more than 700 workers and used 70 lorries to transport the garbage to the Perungudi dumping ground.

Earlier in the day, Patrick Huard, managing director, CES Onyx, met Chennai Corporation Commissioner M.P. Vijayakumar at the Ripon Buildings to explain the company's position.

Mr. Vijayakumar told reporters that the private operator was informed that they were in violation of their contractual responsibilities. "We have asked Onyx to resume their normal services as soon as possible. We have diverted our workers from other zones and are spending for additional workers and lorries from our funds."

Corporation officials are also exploring possibilities to issue notice to the private agency as per the contract signed in March 2000.

An Onyx spokesperson said talks between the employees and the management had continued till late evening and expressed confidence that normal services would resume by Wednesday morning. The dispute is reportedly over the repayment of a festival advance taken by nearly 1,000 of the Onyx employees. It employs more than 2,300 workers.

On a daily average, the private agency clears up to 1,150 tonnes of waste including garbage, construction waste and kitchen waste in the three zones.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail