The Hindu 06.06.2013
Chennai residents can soon pitch in to keep their streets clean
The Chennai Corporation has decided to use the services
of residents on a part-time basis to improve conservancy operations in
the city. The civic body will soon invite applications from residents
including students, self-help groups and cooperatives and create a
database of personnel for conservancy operations.
Under
the existing system, in a day, a conservancy worker is permitted to
take eight hours to sweep 500 metres of a road with a median, for a
daily wage of Rs. 300.
On roads without medians, a
worker is required to sweep a 250-metre stretch in eight hours. Each of
the 5,000 temporary conservancy workers is paid Rs. 300 per day.
The
workers start work at 6 a.m. but recently, delays in completion of work
have become recurrent. Many roads are cleaned only after 11 a.m.,
causing garbage to pile up in many areas. According to a Corporation
official, the new system with a large number of workers on the rolls,
will permit part-time workers to work for just one or two hours per day
at a wage of Rs. 40-Rs. 60 per hour.
This initiative
will increase the number of workers cleaning the streets on a day from
15,000 to more than 50,000. The work will cover street cleaning and
door-to-door collection of garbage. All the workers will be given
protective gear. At present, the 15,000 workers, including 10,000
permanent staff members, clear 4,900 tonnes of municipal solid waste a
day.
Once the new system is implemented, most of the
roads will be clean by 8 a.m., an official said. A larger number of
personnel will be at work simultaneously, with no significant change in
the cost of operations, he added.
After the Chennai
Corporation council approved the proposal for gradual privatisation of
conservancy operations in all zones of the city, a number of new
initiatives have been run on a trial basis.
Privatisation
of conservancy operations is in place in zones such as Teynampet,
Kodambakkam and Adyar. Night conservancy operations have also been
increased on many streets.
The efforts of the
Corporation to use suitable technology for better conservancy
operations, however, are yet to take off. The civic body is pinning all
its hopes on alternative solutions to cope with challenges to municipal
solid waste management.
