Chennai: If seeing was indeed believing, then anyone who has been to the city’s Marina beach would attest to it being one of the most unclean of its kind. So, when Greater Chennai corporation took steps to clear the garbage of the pristine sands, the move was appreciated. But, the local body simply stopped paying the NGO (since November 2015) that it hired to clear the litter off the beach.
Result? Litter has taken over Marina once again and the fault lies, undoubtedly, with the local body. Non-payment of dues by the corporation has been affecting civic work in the city. In the case of the beach cleanup, the NGO is owed around Rs 40 lakh by the local body, according to sources. “There is a lot of pressure to keep the beach clean but unless the payment is made, even they [NGO] would struggle to pay its workers,” a junior official remarked.
Senior officials commented that the payment is measured on the quality of the work executed by the agency. “There is quality criteria that should be met. Payment will be released only after the inspection report is submitted,” said an official.
But the non-payment issue extends to third party design consultants and architects brought on board for infrastructure projects. Corporation sources admitted that many third party consultants have not been paid their dues running into lakhs of rupees. “It is likely that they will never be paid. That is how it has always been with the corporation,” remarked a senior official.
Even the Kerala-based e-toilet manufacturers Eram Scientific Solutions is reportedly owed over Rs 5 crore by the Greater Chennai Corporation. If the non-payment issue leads to non-maintenance of these toilets, then the corporation would have shot itself in the foot after launching the modern e-toilets with much fanfare, according to civic activists.
However, the only stakeholders insulated from all this hullabaloo are road contractors.That is because, as one road contractor, preferring anonymity, told DC, “There are minor delays when it comes to patchworks, maintenance work or even work like building footpaths. But that too will be sorted if we press the issue a little higher,” said a contractor.
