Chennai: Bad news for Chennai corporation and to the city with accumulated wooden logs. The global e-tenders floated to sell uprooted trees due to Cyclone Vardah found no takers.
The city corporation vested with the job of clearing 65,000 tonnes of wooden logs dumped in corporation grounds is set to float a fresh tender again by this Friday, a senior corporation official said.
To ensure that there is no foul play in the auctioning of wooden logs, the city corporation approached the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation, a public sector undertaking company, to handle the tender process.
The company coming under the union ministry of steel specialises in auctioning in quality timber like red sanders, sandalwood and forest produce.
“We are hopeful that a buyer will soon be fixed,” the official said adding new marketing strategies and segregation of wood are underway so that the accumulated logs find takers at the earliest.
Preliminary talks with Tamil Nadu Paper Limited and private timber merchants did not yield positive results, sources confirmed. Meanwhile with Chief minister O. Panneerselvam periodically enquiring about the fire safety of wooden logs kept in playgrounds, the corporation authorities and the fire safety officers have now fixed a patrol rooster for field staff.
Two fire safety personnel and corporation staff are designated to periodically visit the 74 corporation grounds where wooden logs are stocked to prevent any fire outbreak.
