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Bhopal civic body remains idle even after poor show in cleanliness survey
Even after not making in the top 53 districts in a nationwide cleanliness survey of rural areas (Swachh Survekshan 2016), the Bhopal Municipal Corporation has not swung into action to clean the city.
Even after not making in the top 53 districts in a nationwide cleanliness survey of rural areas (Swachh Survekshan 2016), the Bhopal Municipal Corporation has not swung into action to clean the city.
Indore bagged the 13th position in the cleanest districts while Narsinghpur and Sehore districts bagged the 37th and 38th position respectively.
These findings by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) were made public by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on Thursday. The Swachh Survekshan 2016 ranked 26 states based on the percentage of households that have access to sanitary toilets.
“Practically, the roads are on potholes here. Several schemes of garbage collection are introduced and an app too was launched recently yet the garbage can be seen littered all around,” said Abdul Jabbar, a social activist from Bhopal
“The civic body is talking about the smart city project but why it is not looking at the basic problems here. In the state capital, people are defecating in the open right in front of the state assembly and the secretariat building. What is the BMC doing?” he asked.
Madhya Pradesh also fared poorly in the survey. However, with a score of 47.48%, MP significantly improved on sanitation and cleanliness as compared to the score of 24.8% in 2015. “We are trying for the next survey results which would be conducted in January, 2017. The capital’s shape will definitely improve till then,” BMC commissioner Chhavi Bharadwaj said.
Survey findings
Swachh Survekshan 2016 also included a separate survey carried out by the Quality Council of India, which ranked 75 best performing districts, covering more than 70,000 households, in rural India.
These districts were shortlisted based on the improvement in toilet coverage since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in October 2014 and percentage of villages free of open defecation.
Of the 75 districts, 53 are located in the plains and 22 in hilly areas.
The survey on sanitation was conducted based on four parameters: percentage of households having access to safe toilets and their usage (40% weightage), households having no litter around (30%); average score of cleanliness (out of 100) around public places (20%) and households having no wastewater around (10%), officials said.
