After holiday selfies and bathroom-mirror pouts, it is the turn of the ‘broom frame’.
The civic body will soon launch a website to encourage residents to participate in civic activities and also post pictures of them doing their bit to keep the city clean.
Sources at the Chennai Corporation say they want to capitalise on the momentum of the Swachh Bharat campaign.
“Residents can take selfies to show what they have done in their neighbourhoods. We will also have tasks fashioned on the lines of the ice/rice bucket challenges. We have some decentralised solid waste management (SWM) happening in some parts of the city, but as a first step, we are trying to create awareness of the need to stop littering the roads,” says a senior official.
The website will also allow residents to write blog posts. A city-wide cleanliness drive with NGO participation is also in the cards.
“Regional ward-level officers can use the website as a platform to enlist volunteers for cleanliness drives in the city,” the official says.
With the help of NGOs such as City Connect and Youth Exnora, the Corporation has lined up events and campaigns at the ward level to coincide with the website’s launch.
“We intend to target children and traders in particular areas to spread the message,” the official says.
Residents engaged in SWM work in their neighbourhoods have hailed the Corporation’s plan.
“Such a platform will help people understand what is happening in their city and also encourage them to keep their neighbourhoods clean,” says Asha Muralidharan, who encouraged her neighbours in MRC Nagar to take up source segregation and built a compost pit with their help.
The website, work on which has been completed, will be launched in a month. The Corporation is in the process of training its staff to manage the website and respond in real time.
In the past, many of the civic body’s efforts to use social media and online grievance forums have failed to take off, mainly due to the lack of a dedicated workforce.
