Several corporation wards in the city are facing acute manpower shortages which in turn have delayed development projects and led to accumulation of garbage.
Moreover, the private workers entrusted with the job of transporting waste to the transfer station are being burdened with the additional work of loading it on to lorries owing to lack of earth movers. The Corporation has also been accused of holding back payments.
“Earlier there were 50 conservancy workers in the ward, of whom 15 were contract workers. Allegedly in a bid to cut down expenses, the Corporation terminated their contracts. As a result, we are facing acute manpower shortage,” said Mr Vishwanathan, councillor of ward no.185.
“Usually the garbage at the transfer station is moved using earth movers, but now the work is being done manually by sanitary workers resulting in a delay in disposing the waste. Moreover, these workers have not been paid for the past two months,” he added.
“Mayor Saidai Duraisamy once visited our locality and promised that the garbage disposal issue would be resolved soon. Yet, garbage continues to stink up the place,” complained Mr G. Krishnamurthy, a resident of Madipakkam.
When contacted, a senior Corporation official admitted that most divisions were facing manpower problems and said, “Steps are being taken to hire more sanitary workers in all wards to expedite works.”