The Hindu : `Public support to Corpn. project encouraging'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

`Public support to Corpn. project encouraging'

By Saptarshi Bhattacharya

A tricycle introduced under the new door-to-door scheme doing the rounds in Perambur. — Photo: V. Ganesan.

CHENNAI JUNE 22. The feedback to the Chennai Corporation's latest venture to collect garbage from the doorstep has been good, though the nearly month-long operations have exposed some areas where attention needs to be given.

The lacunae in the programme were discussed at a meeting between the zonal chairpersons and the civic body executive.

The success of the project depended heavily on the extent of participation from the public, which is at the moment encouraging but not 100 per cent, the zonal chairpersons reportedly told the Corporation officials.

While the door-to-door collection was carried out in the morning, by afternoon, the street corners and margins were full of garbage in many areas, they said. In north Chennai where 70 per cent of the population were workers and less educated, full participation from the people was still to come, said A. Shankar, chairman, Tondiarpet zone. Such problems were faced from a few areas including Tondiarpet market and Kanniappan Colony.

The manpower for door-to-door collections was not enough, it was also pointed out.

The conservancy lorries were in a pathetic condition and needed to be repaired soon after the administrative hurdles were cleared. The meeting also discussed the outflow of mechanical engineers to the civic departments due to lack of opportunities in their parent department, said R. Rajendra Babu, chairman, Mylapore zone. Deliberations were also centred on the state of public conveniences in the city. Of the 280 PCs, about 150 were under Sulabh International and were caught is a dispute in court, said R. Pratap Kumar, chairman, Pulianthope zone.

The rest of the PCs were either taken over by local politicians and musclemen or were in a dilapidated condition.

While the chairmen reportedly wanted the Corporation to take over the PCs and put in charge a person recommended by them, suggestions of handing them over to self-help groups or contractors were also made.

Reference was also made to the allegations pertaining to largescale corruption among the civic body staff during settling of tenders and bills, said one of the chairpersons.

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