The city’s nalas or storm water drains could yield unexpected things for those cleaning them.
Sofa sets, mattresses, pillows, bundles of rags and beds are only a few articles that the residents dump in the channels which are primarily built to carry off excess water in the event of rains.
At times, the perennial streams also carrying sewage of the city, yield electronic appliances such as refrigerators and coolers too!
They are certainly not the contractors’ delight though. According to GHMC’s Chief Engineer (Maintenance) Mohammed Ziauddin who related the issue to the GHMC Council during the General Body meeting on Saturday, these artefacts invariably constitute the first layer cleared by the contractors entrusted with the cleaning up. Unless they remove this junk, they do not get to what they are paid for — the silt. GHMC calculates the payment based on the cubic metres of silt removed and transported from the nalas, and hence, removal of other kinds of garbage is mere wastage of resources for the contractors. Besides, obtaining labour is not easy, as the work is dirty but the payment is peanuts. Hence, there are no takers for nala cleaning up and widening of the nalas.
Centring charges
Chief Engineer (Projects) R. Sreedhar said payment for the centring work needs to be enhanced, but it is to be approved by the Board of Chief Engineers dominated by engineers from Irrigation Department. Though GHMC sought five times enhancement, the Board, after much effort, approved its hike by only 2.8 times.
GHMC Commissioner M. Dana Kishore urged the Council to make a resolution for enhanced rates. He further observed the need for technological interventions in nala cleaning up, and also awareness to be spread among public against dumping of garbage in nalas.
The special budget meeting in the first hour passed GHMC’s ₹11,538 crore budget for 2019-20 unanimously. It constituted ₹6150 crore GHMC budget, and the remaining ₹5,388 crore to be shared by HRDCL, and Housing Corporation for roads and housing projects.
Revenue sources
Of the revenue, a total of ₹1694 crore is sought to be earned through property tax, and ₹419 crore through 14th Finance Commission, Mayor Bonthu Ram Mohan informed.
MLC Syed Aminul Hasan Jafri sought to know how the corporation sought to increase its income, to which Mr.Dana Kishore replied that GIS mapping of the properties would yield higher property tax without increase in rates. Several corporators complained that they had not received any development fund so far since the constitution of the Council three years ago. Owing to this, they are unable to carry out even minor works related to the development of their respective divisions, they said. Earlier, each corporator was entitled for ₹2 crore per year towards the development fund.
Lack of sanitation, mosquitoes, street lighting, road widening and other issues were raised by corporators. in the meeting.