The Hindu 04.01.2010
Corporation set to buy machine to sweep roads
Staff Reporter
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The City Corporation is planning to buy a road-sweeping machine for the main thoroughfares under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) .
The Corporation Council recently approved a resolution to buy the machine at a cost of Rs.73.5 lakh within a month from a Coimbatore-based company. The council also approved a two-year operation-and-maintenance agreement with the company at the rate of Rs.35.95 lakh for the first year, which will go up by 10 per cent in the second year.
The diesel-run machine can clean up to 10 km an hour, with the dust and waste collected in an inbuilt tank.
“Most of the other JNNURM cities have bought more than 10 road-sweeping machines under solid-waste management projects. However, here, we will be buying only one machine as a pilot project. We also do not want the machine to be a threat to the employment of the Corporation’s cleaning staff,” said G.R. Anil, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Health of the Corporation.
He said the machine would be initially used to clean the roads at East Fort and Kowdiar, the airport road and so on. Although the Corporation had procured a road-sweeping machine from the Tourism Department in 2006, it is not being used any more. Mr. Anil said that machine was rather small to clean roads and was being used only in parks and compounds.
Bill payment
The Corporation has decided to clear the long-pending water, telephone and electricity bill arrears of institutions transferred to the local body in a time-bound manner. The council recently approved the directions to be issued to the heads of institutions on the payment of bills.
The local body plans to settle the arrears of water charges through a one-time settlement scheme of the Kerala Water Authority. The heads of institutions have been directed to report defects in the water meters, if any, to the authority for immediate repairs or replacement.
The Corporation has decided to give the water charges of the institutions in advance for the next three months based on the bills of the institutions in August and September. Institutions which have more than one water connection have been directed to retain only one.
However, the Corporation will not provide money to remit the phone bills of high schools and higher secondary schools under its jurisdiction. This should be allocated from the parent-teacher association fund. The Corporation will only pay the minimum amount of the telephone bills of lower primary and upper primary schools and other institutions.
