Chennai: Civic body commisioner's Chile trip leaves field workers at ease

Chennai: Chennai corporation engineers, infamous for helping contractors to get bills settled for substandard works, are now relieved, thanks to the absence of an elected Chennai mayor and the absence of corporation commissioner D. Karthikeyan who left for Chile to participate in an international conference on climate change.

“The commissioner, known for his strict behaviour is to return only next week after attending a week-long session on climate change and disaster management. Field staff are having a relaxed week with junior IAS officers now administering the city,” said a corporation official. Further, September is a crucial month for completing pending civic projects and now with the absence of the mayor and commissioner it is a free for all paid holiday for errant staff, the official added. “There are hardly any inspections or cancellation of tenders due to substandard works. Corporation engineers are often spotted at the office of the local administration ministry along with contractors and this nexus between contractors and corporation babus goes unchecked,” alleged former Chennai mayor M Subramanian adding that the comptroller auditor general of India, in its recent report, had confirmed that the corporation had wasted public money by executing substandard civic infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, superintendent engineer Nandakumar has also left for China to showcase the non-motor policy adopted by the Chennai corporation.