Though the recently released ‘Swachh Survekshan 2017 Ranking’ for 434 towns and cities across the country, which has ranked the Tirunelveli Corporation at 193, has demoralised the officials of the urban civic body, they have vowed to put in more efforts to make the city clean and green in the months to come.
Officials of Tirunelveli Corporation, who successfully implemented the system of collecting non-degradable plastic waste only on Wednesdays to make ‘source segregation’ effective and made the hospitals, hotels, hostels and bigger business establishments convert their degradable waste including discarded beedi leaves by beedi rollers into manure, could not figure-out the reasons behind the civic body being ranked in the 193rd spot.
When the scheme of collecting discarded plastic waste from the residents only on Wednesdays was introduced on December 21 last, it triggered wild reception from the 1.50 lakh households. On the first Wednesday, the 1,000-odd conservancy workers of the Corporation collected 9,420 kg plastic waste from the public and the quantity increased sharply to 13,000 kg in the subsequent Wednesdays.
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Meanwhile, the Corporation officials intensified their drive against the business establishments using plastic bags and plastic cups and compelled them to use only cloth or paper bags to pack the goods.
As anticipated, the quantum of plastic waste collected from the public dwindled gradually in the next five Wednesdays.
A Central team even visited the Corporation to study the success behind the collection of plastic waste on a particular day and recognised this feat through an award in February.
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The Corporation administration also forced bigger business establishments, hospitals, hotels and hostels to covert their degradable waste into manure. After this scheme was introduced, the quantum of degradable waste being collected everyday has come down by 80 tonnes from 106 tonnes a day.
The Corporation that declared 29 of its 55 wards ‘open defecation-free’ recently by ensuring the construction of toilets in every house in these wards is struggling to take the remaining 26 wards to that level.
“Even though toilets are available in most of the houses in these 26 wards, most of the men from these wards, who go to the Tamirabharani to take bath everyday don’t use the toilets and cause open defecation while the women are so cautious in this serious issue. The Public Works Department should also play a vital role in this connection by removing the bushes along the watercourse and regularise the access to the river as it has been done along the banks of the Sabarmathi in Gujarat,” said Tirunelveli Corporation Commissioner S. Sivasubramanian, who recently received the Central Government’s award for having streamlined the collection of plastic waste on a particular day every week in the urban civic body.
Though this ranking has demoralised the officials of Tirunelveli Corporation, they vow to work hard to achieve enviable rankings in the days to come.
“The plastic waste source segregation on Wednesdays could be implemented successfully with people’s cooperation and more than 40 tonnes of degradable wastes getting generated by hospitals, hostels, hotels and business establishments were being converted by those who generate the waste into manure everyday. The ranking has reminded us to work harder to make the city green and clean,” Mr. Sivasubramanian said.