Cocking a snook at the Madras high court which passed a series of orders to regulate vendors on the Marina, the Greater Chennai Corporation has dumped nearly 850 kiosks at the Kailasapuram burial ground behind the state police headquarters. It is not just waste of ₹16. 5 crore of tax-payers money, but also a continuous contempt of court.
Designed, tendered and allotted as per the high court orders, the smart kiosks were to replace the rag tag push carts that lay scattered all over the Marina Promenade. The efforts were, however, comprehensively defeated by the vendor mafia numbering about 2,000 who complained many of the existing vendors did not get allotments, and the kiosks were too small.
"The scheme of smart kiosks for the Marina Beach was born due to efforts of the Madras high court, activists, the civic body and wellmeaning vendors. The kiosks would have lit up the sands and proved game-changers on aesthetic and hygiene fronts. But the scheme lies in tatters due to vandalism that has gone unchallenged. It is a shame that not a single police complaint was lodged against those who vandalised the kiosks and threatened officials. Both courts and civic body should now crack the whip and justify Rs 16. 5 crore spent on the kiosks. The high court should haul up civic officials responsible for the escalated cost of kiosk, its poor design and failure of the scheme-Timesview"
Owing to opposition from vendors and rampant vandalism directed at the kiosks, the smart carts had been initially kept at Alphonsa corporation playground near Santhome. After the last year’s rains, the corporation moved the idling kiosks away from public view and scrutiny three months ago. Since then the Kailasapuram burial ground became the new home of the smart carts.
When TOI traced them to the burial ground, many of the carts had broken doors, cracked plastic exterior, rusted metal sheets, and a few were upside down too. So far, about 30 smart carts have been stolen by locals and sold as scrap, said a burial ground staffer. Only 52 smart carts are lying unused at the beach.
When the civic body with 50 police personnel tried to place the carts in the beach last year, the vendors, instigated by the mafia, attacked and damaged many carts. The corporation, which is custodian of public assets under its charge, has not lodged even a single police complaint so far. In the utterly chaotic cluster of push carts, no one can set up shop for free. K Bharathi, South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association, said nearly ₹1 lakh is demanded to set up a stall there. “Apart from this, regular bribes are collected every week by antisocial elements,” he said.
Vendors have to pay about ₹3500 per week to the local mafia. Nearly 15 people are deployed to collect the mamool and the mafia is headed by two people, with political nexus. Since the corporation fixed just ₹ 1,000 as monthly rent, the mafia sabotaged the whole plan, fearing loss of grip over vendors on the beach.
Vendors said one person can even keep 20 shops on the beach if they pay the price fixed by the mafia members. A lot many illegal ‘shop owners’ are outsiders who buy the shop and rent it to vendors.
Muthu, who is from a local vendors association and is fighting a case in Madras high court on behalf of the vendors, said regularisation would put an end to mafia rule and outsiders ‘buying shops’. “Vendors welcome the smart carts but are against the allotment of 40% of shops to new applicants. There are nearly 1,500 vendors and 900 carts are allotted. With the rule, only 540 vendors have got carts and 1,000 would go jobless,” he said.
Meanwhile, the tenders were given only for procurement and there is no cost allotted for maintenance of these carts. Thus, the corporation cannot recover the damaged carts through maintenance. Anti-corruption NGO convenor Jayaram Venkatesan, who had raised a DVAC complaint last year, alleging the corporation had fixed tenders to favour inexperienced contractors, said wastage of tax-payers money is unacceptable and the tender process itself was flawed. “Technical qualifications were relaxed in the tender. Action must be taken on the officials in-charge,” he said.
A senior corporation official, meanwhile, said they would make attempts to convince the vendors and bring the carts to the beach. “We held meetings and will hold discussions to convince the vendors,” the officials said. A spokesperson with Quad enterprises said they had also written to the corporation regarding the damages incurred by the carts and how costly it would be to repair them.
