Chennai Slides Down in Clean City Ranking: EPS

Chennai: Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami alleged that Chennai city had now slid down to the 199th position in the clean city ranking from the 43rd and 45th positions it was in during the AIADMK rule during 2021 and 2020 due to the lapses of the 41-month-old DMK government under Chief Minister M K Stalin.

In a statement on Thursday, Palaniswami said the Chennai Corporation failed to carry out sanitary work despite increasing the tax burden of the people heavily through the hike in property tax twice, raising garbage tax and water and sewage charges.

He also accused the DMK government of failing to continue the work started in 2020 to reduce water logging by desilting and renovating 140 of the total 210 water bodies in the city and by cleaning up the 48 km long 30 canals with the help of excavators and mini amphibian vehicles.

Since those work were not executed after the DMK government came to power, the city’s ranking in the list of clean cities went down to 199, he said and urged the government to maintain the roads, carry out sanitation work, supply drinking water to the people on a daily basis and clear sewers to enable the city regain its old position as a clean city.