All is not well with the garbage shed enclosure project, a brainchild of Chennai mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy launched this April.
The corporation has so far spent above Rs 3 crore for installing the garbage bins in about 1,000 places against the proposed 1,239 locations and the project has been put on hold.
Confidential sources hinted that the project has now been shelved following several complaints from members of public and civic activists as the garbage sheds have complicated the waste management process in Chennai.
“The Chennai corporation has so far spent close to Rs 8 crore over the past few months to handle the garbage in Chennai and the expenditure towards the garbage sheds have proved to be a total waste of tax payers money”, former mayor M. Subramanian alleged.
The bins were proposed to be accessible only to the corporation workers and compactor helpers in the area.
But ragpickers, dogs and cattle continue to have access to the covered bins and have become breeding ground for dogs and pigs. In areas like Neelankarai and Thiruvanmiyur these closed sheds are misused by anti socials, Mr Subramanian rued.
According to the city corporation sources, the project was to be implemented at 1,293 locations in seven zones in the old corporation limits and was planned to be expanded in suburban areas that were recently merged with the corporation.
However the project is now shelved according to a senior corporation official. It is also reliably learnt that a former senior IAS official was against the project, but it took off, only to be shelved later.