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Govt. considering cancellation of Onyx contract: Sampath

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai April 29: The State Government was considering cancellation of the contract of the Singapore-based Onyx, which is now cleaning up streets in three Corporation zones in Chennai, the Local Administration Minister, M.C. Sampath, told the Assembly today.

The Minister's assertion came in response to a pointed query from the ruling AIADMK's ally and Forward Bloc MLA, L. Santhanam, whether the Government would terminate the contract of the Onyx, which had caused loss of several crores to the Corporation, showing inflated quantity of garbage it collected.

During a debate on the demands of grants for the Municipal Administration department, Mr. Sampath also said the Onyx was being paid Rs.760 for every tonne of garbage it collected. But, it had collected heavy debris also in the garbage to get an increased payment.

Participating in the debate, the Park Town MLA, S.G. Vinayagamurthy, and the Chengalpattu MLA, K. Arumugham, also drew the attention of the House to the probe ordered by the Chennai Corporation Commissioner into irregularities by the Onyx.

But, Mr. Vinayagamurthy also criticised the Corporation for "faltering" in collection of garbage and insisted that there were irregularities in maintenance and deployment of lorries used for collection of garbage.

Though the Minister initially denied that there was any "faltering" on the part of the Corporation, he later agreed to take steps to improve the garbage collection system.

Mr. Vinayagamurthy said the Government should bring Chennai Metropolitan Development Agency and Metrowater under the control of the Corporation to improve the infrastructure services to city residents.

He also suggested that the Deputy Commissioners be allotted specific zones instead of specific departments to tone up the administration of the civic body. The Congress MLA also asked the Government to hold the Mayoral election at the earliest as the Corporation was now headed only by a Deputy Mayor.

The Deputy Mayor, Karate Thyagarajan, watched the proceedings from the visitors' gallery.

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