None of Tamil Nadu’s cities and major towns figured in the top 20 in both quarters in the Swachh Survekshan League 2020, announced by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Tuesday.
The best-ranked city/town of T.N. was Madurai, which was placed 27th (in the greater than 10 lakh population category) in the first quarter. But the city slipped to the 32nd spot in the second quarter.
Coimbatore and Chennai were ranked behind Madurai, at 31 and 38 respectively, in the first quarter in the same category. They too slipped to the 34th and 43rd rank, respectively, in the second quarter.
In the category of cities with a population of between 1 and 10 lakh, Tiruchi was ranked 38 in the first quarter. But the city dropped to the 56th rank in the second quarter.
Other towns and cities that found a place in the top 100 in the first quarter were: Kumbakonam (48), Salem (77), Vellore (83), Tambaram (84) and Pallavaram (91). But except Pallavaram, which subsequently slipped to the 76th spot, the other cities/towns did not figure in the top 100 in the second quarter. St. Thomas Mount Cantonment, which secured the first position among 60 Cantonment Boards across the country in the first quarter, slid to the 24th rank in the second quarter. The Wellington Cantonment, which was ranked fourth in the first quarter, was placed 10th in the second.
According to an official release, Swachh Survekshan League 2020 (SS League 2020) was introduced with the objective of sustaining the on-the-ground performance of cities, and continuous monitoring of service-level performance when it comes to cleanliness.
SS League 2020 is being conducted for three quarters — April-June, July-September and October-December 2019, and has 2000 marks for each quarter.
