Aafrin Kidwai 
Picture credit: by Del Barrett on Unsplash
According to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report submitted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the delay in completing an integrated solid waste management facility, even after 12 years of planning, has resulted in the accumulation of 1.55 lakh cubic metres of unprocessed waste and ‘unfruitful’ expenditure of Rs 17.5 crore.
The facility, which covered the then-municipalities of Alandur, Pallavaram, and Tambaram, was sanctioned in 2008 at a cost of Rs 44.2 crore. The delay has been blamed on ‘technical challenges’ with the waste-to-energy conversion project, which was granted to private contractors M/s Essel Infra projects in November 2012.
“The municipalities of Tambaram and Pallavaram spent Rs 7.84 crore in 2018 – 19 to develop onsite micro compost centres within the municipal areas for waste conversion into manure. If the waste-to-energy conversion facility had been in place, this expense could have been avoided, according to the research.
Despite the municipalities’ financial losses as a result of the contract’s non-completion, M/s Essel’s bank guarantee of Rs 2 crore was not used, according to the report, notes The New Indian Express.
