Chennai Corporation to burn midnight oil to improve Swachh ranking

With the Swachh Bharat ranking in February pushing Chennai to the 36th place, the Greater Chennai Corporation has decided to improve night conservancy and promote decentralised solid waste management.

When the Swachh Bharat rankings were released in February, Chennai was placed below Tiruchi (3rd rank), Coimbatore (18) and Madurai (26) among the Corporations in the State, which came as a shocker to the civic body officials here.

With the next round of rankings by the Centre coming up as part of the Swachh Survekshan survey on aspects relating to sanitation, hygiene and waste management, the country’s oldest corporation has decided to improve night conservancy.

Garbage collection during night hours will be increased to 1,300 tonnes from 1,055 tonnes.

All zones of the Corporation will start mobilising manpower, equipment and other resources required for night conservancy, said officials.

Currently, the civic body carries out night conservancy on roads along market areas, using the services of 1741 workers, 423 tricycles, 10 light compactors and 80 compactors. However, most of the zones use only less than five per cent of the workforce for night conservancy, officials point out.

Night-time accidents a risk

Five years ago, the Corporation Council passed a resolution to commence conservancy operations during the nights in all commercial areas. But the plan did not take off due to the high risk of accidents on 471 bus routes and highways. As workers were injured and as some lost lives during conservancy operations at night, the staff force was also reluctant as they had to work from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

As night conservancy alone could not improve its ranking much as the city generates around 54,00 tonnes of garbage every day, the corporation is looking to involve the residents too as the BJP-led Centre gives priority to citizen centric approach, officials said.

“Focus is shifting to the role played by residents in keeping the city clean. We have asked our officials to promote decentralised solid waste management. More than 32 areas have facilities for decentralised waste management with support from residents,” said a civic body official.