Mangaluru: As the door-to-door waste collection company, Antony Waste Handling cell Pvt Ltd has suspended its duties citing lack of payment, Mangaluru City Commissioner Deputy Mayor Purushotham refused the charges and said that the waste handling company has signed a contract to work for the MCC for seven years.
Speaking of the allegations with regard to the payment or lack thereof, Purushotham, while addressing a press conference in the city on Wednesday January 6 said that the MCC has already paid Rs 17.68 crore to the company and only September and October payments are due to be made.
He added that the MCC has received the bill for the month of November which is under scrutiny and added that the December bill is yet to be submitted.
He further explained that according to the agreement, the company should do door-to-door mechanized street sweeping for 25kms a day and added that the workers have violated rules by failing to wear uniform, hand gloves and shoes while at work.
“As per the contract, they have agreed to sweep 25kms of a street every day. However, they sweep only 10 to 15km per day. In addition, this is the third time they have suspended work midway. The company is supposed to provide a mobilization chart to the MCC but since they have failed to provide it, there has been a delay in payment,” he explained.
“Once the company sends the invoice, we have 90 days time for payment. We have recieved complaints about the way the duties are being carried out. In this regard, we want to meet the Managing Director of Antony Waste Handling Cell. However, that isn’t being materialized,” he said.
MCC Commissioner Dr HN Gopalkrishna said that though the MCC had agreed to sanction the payment during the first week of January, the company suspended their waste collection duties without any prior information.
He also added that the MCC is contemplating to take legal action against the company. “We have already sent them two notices and soon we will be serving the third one for suspending the collection of waste without informing us,” he said.
