TIRUCHY: According to a survey report recently released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Tiruchy dropped from the previous year's 121st position to 262 this year in the national-level Swachh Survekshan rankings.
Securing 2,473.78 points against the maximum of 7,500, the city corporation was ranked fourth in the State in the 1 to 10 lakh population category.
The city secured only 200 points against the maximum of 2,250 in one of the three major performance indicators, which is certification. According to the report, the civic body performed well in door-to-door waste segregation, and cleanliness in markets, residential areas, roads and water bodies.
However, it performed poorly in other indicators like cleanliness in public toilets and redressal of public grievances, securing only an average of 25 per cent. Further, the report stated that the city had to improve on the cleanliness of drains and beautification works. The residents attributed the drastic fall in ranking to the negligence of the local body representatives over civic issues.
"Last 10 years we did not have any councillors in the city and we secured 102nd position in 2020 and 121st position in 2021," said A Nagarajan, a resident of Chathiram vocal about civic issues. He cited civic issues, including underground drainage (UDG) and dumping of garbage in public areas, as the factors that led to the drop in rank.
The report came as a shock said Mayor M Anbazhagan. "We will discuss the issue and will come out with a working model to improve the ranking," he said.