CHENNAI: Is the Chennai corporation’s main solid waste contractor discriminating between areas depending on the income levels of people who live there? Residents of traditional fishing village, Urur Olcot Kuppam, adjoining the posh Besant Nagar, believe so. Findings of a study also revealed that higher number of sanitary workers and garbage collectors were assigned to Besant Nagar, despite the locality having much lesser population than Olcot Kuppam.
GarbageWatch, a programme of The Other Media, has released a detailed report of the study exposing the systematic discrimination in the levels of services offered to different localities within Ward 176 of Zone XIII, comprising both Besant Nagar and Olcot Kuppam. The study concludes that Ramky Enviro Engineers, the main solid waste contractor of the Chennai corporation, was discriminating Olcot Kuppam, compared to Besant Nagar, inhibited by the rich and upper middle class.
As per the terms of contract, Ramky is mandated to assign one door-to-door garbage collector for every 300 households. As such, Olcott Kuppam and Thiruvalluvar Nagar would need three personnel, but there are only two, of whom only one visits. In comparison, the sparsely built-up Besant Nagar needs only three workers, has been assigned four collectors.
The survey also finds that only 50 percent of the streets in the low-income neighbourhood are covered by street-sweepers. Further, 20 of the 33 garbage dumping areas, including six of the 19 large such sites, are located within Olcott Kuppam and Thiruvalluvar Nagar, another low-income neighbourhood. Also, it is alleged that Ramky’s microplan underestimated the population in low-income areas. There are about 4,900 people in the 980 households in Olcot Kuppam and Thiruvalluvar Nagar, but Ramky’s figure stands at 3,000.
Pradeep Kuttuva of GarbageWatch alleged that as per new Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, all local authorities/panchayats are mandated to provide solid waste management services equitably to all areas within local bodies, institutions, townships and cantonments. However, Ramky is adopting a discriminatory approach, he charged.
When contacted, S Ravi, deputy project head of Ramky, denied the allegations and said two sweepers and a helper have been designated to pick garbage from these areas.