Chennai needs a Swachh check

 

The corporation is shown up as lagging far behind in two of the key indicators one attaches with a smart city — open defecation and solid waste management. Cities like Mysore (1st) and Tiruchy (2nd) exposed the corporation for its mismanagement and proved what one could do with even half its financial outlay. 

But Chennaiites are equally to blame for the city’s poor showing, suggest experts. 

 

“The Chennaiite’s attitude to waste in the city is that it is the corporation’s business and not his/hers. But ideally, we must learn to handle our own waste. It can only happen if the corporation starts placing responsibility on the people generating waste,” said Dr Sultan Ismail of Ecoscience Research Foundation.

 

The civic body, which handles around 5,000 MT of wastes every day, should focus on waste management and not disposal. “In December 2003, the Supreme Court wanted all municipal corporations to manage wastes. Now, 12 years later in 2015, the corporation is still way away from meeting the deadline,” he added. 

 

Open defecation is practised because of the lack of public convenience infrastructure. The corporation which operates less than 1000 such structures in the city, has plans to install 10,000 new toilets.

 

However, adding to the numbers alone will not solve the issue. “Maintenance is where the corporation loses out,” said Dr P.  Kuganantham, former city health officer. “The corporation has to ensure that after they install toilets, these have sufficient water and power supply and that they are also user friendly,” he added.

 

Toilet maintenance should be made the responsibility of the community that benefits from it, Kuganantham pointed out. Trichy’s success is built on the successful maintenance of toilets by women self help groups called SHE teams (Sanitation and Hygiene – Education teams).