Perungalathur Town Panchayat, a suburb in the city’s south, is in the news again. The urban local body has received ISO 9001:2008 certification for ‘provision of public utility services.’ It is the fourth town panchayat in Kancheepuram district to receive this recognition after Tirupporur, Nandivaram – Guduvanchery and Acharapakkam.
The town panchayat has been trying to provide an improved quality of service delivery in the spheres of public health, water supply, roads, e-governance, and implementing environment friendly eco restoration, according to M. Kesavan, executive officer of the local body.
Officials said that Nandivaram-Guduvanchery received 9001:2008 certification for providing good infrastructure facilities and for good maintenance of the bus terminus. Acharapakkam town panchayat received ISO 14001:2004 for best practices in collection and segregation of solid waste. Tiruporur was the first one in the district to get ISO certification in 2010, officials said.
Perungalathur generates 12 tonnes of wastes from its 15 wards and door-to-door collection and segregation is carried out by green friends of ‘Hand in Hand’, an NGO which supports women from poor families.
The local body employs 65 vehicles to transport kitchen waste to a three-acre site in Gundumedu, where it is converted to manure, Mr. Kesavan said.
“Having seen the makeover, the agency conducted a series of inspections before awarding us the certification.
“Subsequent to the assessment conducted in July this year, Perungalathur town panchayat has been operating an environmental management system which complies with the requirements of ISO certification,” S.Sekar, the local body’s chairman said.
