Tiruchi Corporation has formed special teams of sanitation workers in all 65 wards to address manpower shortage in waste management in the city.
Since the Corporation outsourced door-to-door solid waste collection to a private agency in 2023, its permanent workers are being engaged in cleanliness activities. Around 1,180 workers are engaged in collecting, segregating, and processing the waste generated from households and commercial establishments in all wards.
As of 2019, the Corporation has a sanctioned strength of about 1,200 permanent sanitation workers. However, every month, around 20 to 25 permanent workers retire from work, and at present, there are only 830 sanitation workers on the payroll. These workers are engaged in drain cleaning, street maintenance, and road sweeping.
Earlier, the civic body hired about 630 workers on a contract basis to maintain sanitation in public places, market areas, parks, and toilets, as well as during festivals.
Officials said that on any given day, around 10% of the workers are absent, which poses challenges in maintaining cleanliness in the city.
As a solution, special teams of 10 to 15 workers have been formed to take up sanitation in each ward, depending on the needs. They are engaged in drain cleaning, street maintenance, road sweeping, garbage collection, segregation, and processing. These workers act as a striking force and would be deployed in places where they are needed, a senior official said.
Meanwhile, sources said there was a shortage of sanitation inspectors and officers as well. There should be around 25 officials to monitor the garbage collection and other cleanliness activities in their wards, but there are only nine. Due to this, each official has been allocated more than five wards to monitor.
Published – June 05, 2025 06:30 pm IST
