Swachh survey team is here

A Ministry of Urban Affairs (MoHUA) team is now visiting Rockfort City. For the Swachh Survekshan-2019 survey.

The Central team has begun its field visit to carry out spot assessment on claims made by Tiruchi Corporation on its clean city initiatives.

The visit is part of a nationwide drive on clean city ranking. It is aimed at encouraging cities to scale up initiatives towards ensuring garbage-free and open defecation-free surroundings. Unlike the previous drives, Tiruchi Corporation has already submitted its proposals with supporting documents online.

The team, which is keeping its schedule close to its chest, is visiting various parts of the city to take stock of the current situation. While some members are studying the effectiveness of the solid waste management system, another group is randomly selecting citizens for feedback on various aspects of cleanliness.

Thickly populated areas, including Central Bus Stand, Chathiram Bus Stand, Gandhi Market, NSB Road and Big Bazaar Street, were among those visited by the team members.

It is said they also visited micro-compost yards, which process and dispose waste collected from households at the respective wards itself, and studied their functioning.

The team, which began its secret visit on Tuesday, is expected to be in the city for a few more days. Besides making field trips, it collected material evidence to check the claims of the Corporation.

Tiruchi Corporation continues to dominate the survey since the introduction of clean city ranking in 2016. The city was ranked second and third in 2015 and 2016 respectively. It notched the sixth position in 2017, but was relegated to 13th place in 2018. However, it secured first rank among 26 cities in the State with one lakh population and above in 2018.

Aiming for the top, the Corporation has taken up a number of initiatives to score maximum marks out of a total 5,000 in Swachh Survekshan 2019.