Tiruchy Corporation aims to top swacch survey ranking

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had enhanced the parameters this year for the survey. It had launched the timeline for preparing, participating and evaluating in the survey in August. Also the number of participating cities increased from 434 in 2017’s survey to 500 (cities with a population of 1 lakh and above).

“We have started working on their assigned target,” Tiruchy Corporation officials said.

Tiruchy ranked third in the first survey with 73 participants and slipped to the sixth position in the second survey in which 434 cities took part last year.

Sources in the city corporation said that dedicated teams comprising officials for ensuring good performance were formed, as the ranking would be carried out on three stages that include data collection, interaction with the municipal body, direct observation and feedback from urban residents.

Unlike the previous year’s scoring parameters, more weightage has been given to citizen feedback and direct observation, the two parameters in which the city scored comparatively lower in the previous surveys. Similarly, negative marks in respect of all 71 parameters in the swachh score have been introduced this year. For instance, if the claims of corporation were found incorrect by the independent assessors during field visits, the civic body concerned would get 33 per cent negative marks besides zero marks in respect of such parameters.

“The revised scoring parameters for Swachh Survekshan 2018 will be a challenging task for us to maintain and improve our reputation at pan India level. We have a set of strategies to improve the citizen feedback parameters, and the next few months will be crucial for us to address our shortcomings,” Commissioner N Ravichandran said.

As a preliminary move, the civic body has planned to familiarise the Swachhata android application and also punish the public for violating the devised solid waste management protocols by levying fines from Rs 50 to Rs 100 per instance.