Tirupati slips 2 places in Swachh Survekshan 2019 rankings

TIRUPATI: The city of Tirupati was dealt with a heavy blow as it slipped two ranks below from last year in the recently released Swachh Survekshan 2019 rankings. The Ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) on Wednesday, saw the temple city bagging the 8th spot in 2019 as compared to its 6th spot in 2018.
The rankings were accorded based on performances under four different categories namely - Service level progress, Direct observation, Citizen feedback and Certifications for garbage-free cities and Open defecation free cities, with each category carrying 1250 marks.Tirupati scored comparatively well under three categories but lost ample marks in Certifications category.
The temple city with a total of 4025 marks out of 5000 was adjudged “Best small city in citizens feedback” at the national level in 1-3 lakh population category.
The city municipal administration had received a lot of criticism from certain quarters as they went ahead with new initiatives without involving the local public resulting which decisions being unilaterally enforced straightway. After a complete plastic ban was enforced in the temple city on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi in October last year, the municipal corporation grandly announced to implement ‘bin-free city’ which the public was found to be not yet ready.
Because the concept lacked inclusiveness with the public backing away, bins definitely disappeared from the temple city but the garbage did not.
Meanwhile, Chittoor district collector and special officer of Tirupati municipal corporation PS Pradyumna appreciated the people of Tirupati for their efforts which ensured the temple city secured a pride place in the top ten cleanest cities in the country although the rankings slipped two spots below this time.