Chennai: Rules violated in construction of compost pits  

Pallavaram municipality flouts tender norms, miscalculates wet waste generated in area

CHENNAI: The Pallavaram municipality has begun construction of micro compost facilities in its jurisdiction without following the guidelines specified by the Tender Transparency Act of 1998. Not even a single tender is available on the official State tender website — www.tenders.tn.gov.in.

A newspaper tender advertisement carried by an English daily on March 30 shows that the municipality had issued a tender opening on April 17 for Rs 120 lakhs for construction of one five-tonne micro compost pit without mentioning the site. Interestingly, an internal footnote submitted to the Commissioner of Municipal Administration (dated March 28) shows that the estimate for the construction of three five-tonne micro compost facilities is just Rs 2.51 crore.

Another tender advertisement for Rs 40 lakh ( TRN: 13200899) published on www.thetenders.com on April 14 shows the municipality inviting parties for construction of just the compost shed, restroom and store room at Ganapathipuram, one of the three places identified for the three five-tonne compost facilities.

However, construction work began at Ganapathipuram by end of April, which is a clear violation of Tender Transparency Act of 1998, which specifies a one-month-period between the time a tender is opened and awarded.

Express verified on May 7 that the compost facility at Ganapathipuram was coming up on the Periya Eri lake bed. After local activists and residents protested, work was halted.However, construction of a compost facility at Thiru Vi Ka Nagar burial ground, another site earmarked for a five-tone pit, began even without a tender being issued for the same.

When Express contacted the commissioner of Pallavaram Municipality, K Sivakumar, regarding these blatant violations on Monday, he said, “We have been asked to start work and simultaneously issue tenders on the instructions of Commissionerate of Municipal Administration.”He refused to say on what basis, civil agents for the construction had been chosen.

With work being stopped at Ganapathipuram, sources in the municipality said a toilet at Kizhaku Puduvai Nagar had been chosen to house a five-tonne compost facility. When Express visited the site on Tuesday, demolition of the public toilet was underway and the contractor said no tender was issued for the works. “I was just asked to demolish a few defunct government buildings by the municipal engineer, Karuppiah Raju,” he said.

An animal birth control centre is also being demolished by the municipality to make way for a compost facility. The locations scouted by the municipality for the construction of smaller compost pits have also irked residents. One of the 17 locations abuts the Lakshmi Nagar park and residents fear they will have to put up with the composting stench.“Officials kept lying to us about the facility that had come up. Some even told us it is a drinking water facility,” said a resident of Lakshmi Nagar.

Interestingly, the Rs 2.51 crore estimate reveals that the Pallavaram Municipality planned to build each compost pit at Rs 83 lakhs. However, the neighbouring Tambaram Municipality will be building seven pits of the same capacity at just Rs 50 lakh per facility.  

Has Pallavaram Municipality inflated the wet waste generated in its jurisdiction? The internal document which estimates the construction of three five-tonne compost pits at Rs  2.51 crore was prepared by considering that each house generates more than 800 grams of wet waste everyday. This is twice the wet waste recorded in Chennai Corporation which is around 420 grams! (which is second highest in India).
Since the total waste of around 15,200 kg is calculated using the 18,000 houses in the wards it will serve, inflation of waste anticipating increase in waste producers can be ruled out in the absence of a rise in the number of households. If 420 grams is taken as the amount of wet waste per house, only 7980 kilograms of waste will be generated from the 11 wards these three five-tonne compost pits have been envisioned for.

No buffer zones?

Civic activists also claim that the compost pits are being constructed to handle less than five-tonnes of waste per day to ensure there is no need to have buffer zones

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com