Indore a step away from retaining top spot in cleanliness

Indores continued stay on top among the clean cities of India is a result of sustained effort on most parameters. The city has begun the New Year on a cheerful note on top for the first two quarters of Swacchata Survekshan league 2020 (cleanliness survey league).

It is just a step away from being declared the cleanest city of India for the fourth year running.

Indore has scored 1,632 marks out of 2,000 in the overall ranking in the first quarter, and 1,653.10 out of 2,000 in the second to top among cities population-wise larger than a million.

From being placed 149th in cleanliness rankings in 2014, the Indore Municipal Corporation climbed to the 25th position in 2016, and has stayed on top since 2017.

The Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) announced the results of the Swachhata Survekshan League 2020 (Quarter 1 and Quarter 2) on Tuesday.

The fifth edition of the annual urban cleanliness survey is scheduled to begin on January 4, 2020, across India.

In the first quarter of the league, Indore remained at the top position followed by Bhopal. However, Bhopal slipped to fifth spot in the second quarter, whereas Indore remained the cleanest.

"We will keep the top position consecutively for the fourth time. We are all prepared for it with the support of Indore citizens, I am sure we will get our tag again," Indore Municipal Corporation Commissioner Asheesh Singh said.

Mayor Malini Gaud tweeted to say the real test lies ahead in the next survey.

"We have successfully bagged the cleanest city of Indore's tag three times and will surely get it for the fourth. It is time for the real test as Survekshan will be started from January 4," she said.

Swachh Survekshan League 2020 was introduced to sustain ground-level performance of cities along with continuous monitoring of service-level performance in cleanliness.

Initially, Indore's quick progress was marked by the corporation's efforts to improve garbage collection, and turn it open-defecation free (ODF). Being part of Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan's parliamentary constituency was an added advantage.

The League 2020 was conducted in 3 quarters April-June, July-September and October-December 2019 and has 2,000 marks for each quarter evaluated on the basis of monthly updating of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) online along with citizen's validation on the 12 service level progress indicators through outbound calls.

Ranks have been assigned in two categories for cities with population of one lakh and above (with two sub-categories, i.e. 1-10 lakh and 10 lakhs and above) and cities with population of less than 1 lakh (under 1 lakh population category.

The performance of cities in the Survey League 2020 is crucial to their ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2020 as it carries a weightage of 25 per cent over quarterly assessments during survey scheduled from January 4 to 31.

Indore's smart move was to involve residents' welfare associations, schools, government offices, hospitals, market associations and hotels in year-round regular contests for cleanliness. The cumulative effort fetched the top honour.

The parameters have expanded to 25 points of assessment and points scored on them. Their scores are decided on door-to-door collection of waste, segregation of waste, monitoring mechanism, incentives for life sustenance of informal waste-pickers, facilities provided to the cleaning staff, cleaning of storm water drains and water bodies, enforcement of ban on plastic.

The Rs 4,824.74-crore deficit budget for 2018-19, while laying emphasis on clean, smart, green and safe Indore, projected an expenditure of Rs 4,824.73 crore, setting aside five per cent allocation for Swachh Abhiyan.

In 2019-20, the budget amount was 5647.11 crore with about six per earmarked for cleanliness and allied activities.

Rajkot has staged a smart recovery, jumping from fifth position in first quarter to the second position in the second and became a close contender for being the cleanest city.

Top five ranked cities in first quarter are Indore, Bhopal, Surat, Nashik and Rajkot, while in the second quarter they have been ranked in order as Indore, Rajkot, Navi Mumbai, Vadodara and Bhopal.

( With inputs from IANS )