Swachh: Central observer takes stock of Trichy's cleanliness state

TRICHY: To ascertain the civic body’s performance as well as preparation for Swachh Survekshan 2019, Economic Adviser to the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) Anupam Mishra carried out surprise inspections on Saturday. While the senior official took stock of the city’s model projects such as street library and solid waste management (SWM) mechanisms, the inspection was seen as a prelude to the evaluation process for the cleanliness survey conducted annually by the ministry.

Accompanied by corporation commissioner N Ravichandran, Mishra inspected the public toilets and the hygiene of central bus stand in Cantonment. He visited various type of residential settlements including posh and slum areas in Ponmalai zone, checked waste segregation practices and also interacted with the residents at K K Nagar. Though the evaluation for the national cleanliness ranking of cities is yet to commence, sources said that top performing cities across the country would be individually inspected by senior officials in the ministry to ascertain the preparedness for the survey and inspect the achievements made.

“Leading cities that have fared well in Swachh Survekshan surveys conducted so far were individually inspected by the observers. Existing sanitary condition and innovative efforts taken by Trichy Corporation were analysed by the senior official on Saturday,” N Ravichandran said. Official sources in the civic body said that the economic adviser to MoHUA expressed satisfaction over the efforts in SWM domain. Decentralised waste collection mechanism such as micro compost centres (MCC), Thennur science park, community kitchen powered by biogas plant on EB Road, and state’s first open street library in Officers Colony were shown to the observer.

Though the inspection is not directly linked to the evaluation for Swachh Survekshan 2019, it is believed that central government officials inspecting the city’s model schemes would project a good opinion on the city among bureaucrats in national capital for consideration in implementing pilot innovative schemes.