TIRUCHY: With ‘Citizen Feedback’ a crucial factor for the Swachh Survekshan 2020 (SS-2020) rankings, the Tiruchirappalli Municipal Corporation has reached out to students to ensure the participation of more residents in the online survey.
"Residents can submit their opinion about the city by downloading the ‘SS2020 VoteForYourCity’ mobile application from Google Play Store or through the Swachh Survekshan website (https://secure.mygov.in/mygov-survey/swachh-survekshan-2020/)," an official said.
Though this may sound easy, several officials admitted it is a challenging task as residents may not be comfortable with an online survey. The Corporation is hoping youth or students who have internet expertise would help the civic body bridge this gap.
"This survey asks eight questions about the city. For instance, it has questions like 'How many marks would you like to give to Tiruchy on cleanliness?' Residents can give marks in the range of zero to 10. Though this would be easy for those familiar with online platforms, it would not be the case with senior
citizens and others who are not comfortable with online surveys. We are requesting students and others to help such people in their homes and neighbourhoods. We are sure our students would help us in ensuring better participation in the survey," a source said.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has taken measures to avoid any malpractice in this survey. "You cannot submit multiple votes as the system would send an OTP to your mobile to proceed with the survey. Apart from this, it would also use GPS to ensure you are participating in the survey from the same city," an official said.
Though MoHUA has taken these steps to ensure a fair survey, it is unclear why it failed to consider the opinions of those unfamiliar with mobiles and technology.
According to sources, over 1,500 people from the city are currently participating in the survey every day. The major worry for the civic body is participation of residents during the Pongal holidays. "Unlike local bodies in other States, the timing of this survey often creates inconvenience to many civic bodies in the State as we have so many holidays in the third week of January due to Pongal. Therefore, we often have to work hard to ensure participation of residents during these holidays. Local bodies in other States would not face this challenge," said sources.
Apart from the Corporation, several enthusiastic residents are circulating messages on social media requesting others to submit their feedback as the survey ends on January 31. This has given some hope to the civic body.