Chennai’s waste contracts with Ramky and Urbaser Sumeet are facing fresh scrutiny after Deputy Mayor Magesh Kumaar asked Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner GS Sameeran to table a White Paper on contract terms, worker deployment and financial settlements at the next council meeting.
Kumaar said the document should compare the number of workers mandated under the contracts with the actual deployment in each ward. It should also list pending dues owed to the private waste management companies, according to the report placed before the council on Thursday.
The demand comes as uncollected garbage is piling up in several parts of the city. Kumaar said private agencies had claimed that unpaid Corporation bills had affected their ability to disburse workers’ salaries. The proposed White Paper would bring the contractual and financial details into a single public document, including the obligations of the civic body and the service providers.
Construction and demolition waste was another concern raised during the meeting. Kumaar said such waste remained uncollected in many areas despite the service having been outsourced. The issue adds to the Corporation’s wider challenge of ensuring that different waste streams are collected separately and removed within the service obligations assigned to contractors.
Kumaar also referred to earlier contracts with high per-tonnage rates that had led to arbitration. He urged the Corporation to contest such matters in the High Court instead of relying on arbitration. The report did not specify the value of the contracts, the number of arbitration cases or the current legal status of the disputes.
The Deputy Mayor separately suggested that the Corporation adopt a road maintenance model used by the Highways Department. Under his proposal, annual zonal contracts would be floated so that vendors could repair damaged road stretches identified by Assistant Engineers throughout the year. The proposal links routine road repairs to a standing maintenance arrangement rather than separate responses to individual defects.
The council meeting also saw an allegation by AIADMK Ward 7 councillor K Karthik against a local Assistant Engineer and other civic staff. Karthik alleged that the staff demanded an illegal fine of Rs 25,000, collected Rs 10,000 against an official receipt and accepted another Rs 2,000 through Google Pay into personal accounts belonging to road workers. The allegations were made during the council proceedings, and the report did not include a response from the Corporation or the officials named.
Karthik also raised the issue of illegal sewage connections entering stormwater drains. Such connections can mix sewage with the drainage network, although the report did not provide details on the number or location of the connections beyond the ward-level complaint.
Education and public services were also discussed. Karthik said LKG and UKG students at Kargil Nagar Primary School, which has 370 enrolled students, were excluded from the Midday Meal scheme. He alleged that teachers were sharing meals intended for older pupils with the younger children. He also sought uniform timings for all Corporation schools, proposing that schools in the extended areas follow the core city schedule of 8.30 am to 3.30 pm.
The next council meeting is expected to determine whether the Commissioner will table the proposed White Paper and whether the Corporation will respond to the complaints concerning waste collection, road maintenance, alleged illegal payments, drainage connections and school meal coverage.
