Civic body appoints contractors to clean parks, public toilets

COIMBATORE: Parks in the city would soon turn tidier and safer with the civic body roping in contractors to maintain and guard them.
In the absence of proper maintenance, the parks have been crying for attention since the contracts for the same ended almost a year ago. While some parks have been closed for the public, the remaining others have been open, but without regular cleaning. Such parks were often found with garbage and plastic waste. Ward councillors have been demanding the city corporation to improve the upkeep of parks at the monthly council meetings for quite some time.
Corporation commissioner M Prathap said they had appointed contractors to maintain and guard the parks in all the five zones. “The contractors were selected after a tender process a week ago. Soon, the residents could see improvement in the cleanliness of parks.”
Another corporation official said the contractors would take care of the maintenance and operation of all the 334 parks in the city. “They are engaged at a cost of Rs4.56 crore for a year.”
Similarly, corporation toilets too would be tidier in the coming days, as contractors have been chosen to clean them regularly. The official said 364 toilets were handed over to the private agencies for daily upkeep for a year at a cost of Rs6.25 crore. “Health officials will supervise the cleaning activities periodically and send reports to higher authorities. People could raise complaints on lack of cleanliness as well and the same will be addressed in a short span of time.”
Councillors, meanwhile, heaved a sigh of relief. They were often flooded with complaints pertaining to the maintenance of corporation parks and toilets. A DMK councillor from the central zone said, “I used to get complaints on poor upkeep of toilets every morning. Officials used to make temporary arrangements to clean them. It is a great relief that they will now be cleaned regularly,” she told TOI.