Hyderabad: GHMC additional commissioner, sanitation, R. Upender Reddy on Tuesday said that multiple agencies sweeping and cleaning roads was the result of directions of the “former municipal minister,” while not naming K.T. Rama Rao directly.
This came when corporators closely questioned officials during Monday’s GHMC general body meeting on irregularities in the sanitation wing.
The roads under the Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme (CRMP) are being cleaned by the GHMC and the CRMP agencies. Deccan Chronicle had reported on the issue on January 26.
In 2019, work on the 709 km of main roads was grouped under the CRMP and handed over to private agencies at an estimated cost of `1,827 crore in seven packages.
Upender Reddy said that it was decided that the sanitation on the CRMP roads be given to the agencies. After a few days, these agencies met the “former municipal minister” with regard to the sanitation aspect.
According to Upender Reddy, the CRMP agencies said they could not take care of sweeping for roads but were ready to operate mechanical sweeping machines.
Changes were then made to the agreement to facilitate this.
Following this explanation, BJP and AIMIM corporators called the operation of sweeping machines a scam and sought details of the costs.
Upender Reddy, known for his rapport with Mahender Reddy, official on special duty (OSD) to Rama Rao, said that the agencies were paid `32,430 per day for sweeping machines and `1.25 crore per year based on the number of hours the vehicles swept the road. He said the vehicles are equipped with GPS for tracking.
Upender Reddy said that the sweeping machines clean a portion of the road and the rest is of the work done by GHMC’s sweepers. Upender also said that 18 sweeping machines are deployed on stretches that are not assigned to CRMP agencies, apart from 20 operated on the CRMP roads.A BJP corporator said that with the money being paid to the agency for 10 months, the GHMC could purchase a sweeping machine for itself. An AIMIM member said that the GPS on sweeping machines was being placed on two-wheelers to log the required number of kilometres.
