Chennai sanitation workers to receive ₹50 daily food allowance

The Tamil Nadu government has ordered a daily food allowance of ₹50 for 24,264 sanitation workers employed by the Greater Chennai Corporation. The allowance will be calculated only for days on which workers attend duty. It will be added to their monthly salaries and paid in cash as an alternative to the meals previously supplied, according to the order issued by the Corporation.

The beneficiaries include sanitation workers attached to the Corporation’s self-help groups and workers employed through private cleaning agencies Urbaser Sumeet and Chennai Enviro Solutions Private Limited. The decision followed a survey and opinion poll conducted among workers across Zones 1 to 15. The Corporation said approximately 92% of those surveyed preferred receiving a cash allowance instead of the meals being provided.

The annual cost of the allowance has been estimated at ₹44.28 crore. The expenditure will be met from Greater Chennai Corporation funds, according to the order issued by its Deputy Commissioner for Revenue and Finance on the directions of Commissioner G.S. Sameeran.

The government order said complaints had been received during implementation of the meals scheme. The complaints came from sanitation workers, project management consultants and Corporation officials, and concerned food quality, delays in distribution, kitchen hygiene, raw materials and the condition of utensils. The order said the cash payment would replace the existing meals arrangement for the workers covered by the decision.

It did not provide further details on the date of the first payment or on the future role of the contractors involved in supplying meals. The change is based on the workers’ stated preference in the Corporation’s survey. The material does not include any response from the meal suppliers or further comments from worker representatives.