Swachh: 341 panchayats in Tiruchy get ODF tag

As many as 341 village panchayats in Tiruchirappalli district have been declared cent percent open defecation free (ODF) areas, out of the 404 village panchayats, according to Tiruchy collector K. Rtqamani. The challenge now would be to sustain this momenum. Inaugurating a region-al workshop on 'Swachh Survekshan-2018' under the 'Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)' here on Saturday, Mr. Rajamani said that under SBM, Tiruchy city corporation now stood in the sixth place in the country and efforts were on to win the first place in coming days.

Speaking on the occasion, Sathishkumar, technical officer, Union Ministry of Housing and urban affairs appealed to the civic bodies' officials to attend to the grievances of the public immediately as citizen's feedback has 35 per cent of the total marks in ranking. He further said the officials should also have good rapport with the residential welfare associations and hold information, communication and awareness program-mes. Towns and cities who wish to score well in the ongoing survey. should satisfy the criterion of public awareness, the Central officer said by way of giving tips for better performance. Mr. Sathishkumar said the qualifying mark has been increased from 2000 to 4000 for the 'Swachh Survekshan-2018'. increased from 434 to 4041, he added.

 Speaking on the occasion Tiruchirappalli city corporation commissioner N. Ravichandran said, offi-cials of Coimbatore, Sal-em, Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Tirupur, Erode, the regional directors of Municipal Administrations of Tiruchy. Tirupur and Salem, 14 assistant directors of town panchayats, executive officers of 32 town panchayats in 16 districts and others took part in today's programme.

Source:http://epaper.deccanchronicle.com/articledetailpage.aspx?id=9145409