Gurugram to get garbage-free city award this Saturday

MoHUA conducted a survey last year, following which two cities from Haryana — Gurugram and Rohtak — were selected for the garbage-free city award

Gurugram will be given the garbage-free city (GFC) award by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on November 20 as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), said officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) on Monday.

Depending on the efficiency of its waste management system and resources, a city is rated out of seven stars in GFC, one of the main components in the Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness survey) rankings. The rationale behind the assessment is to encourage cities to reach higher ratings each year and eventually reach the seven-star rating. (HT Archive)

MoHUA conducted a survey last year, following which two cities from Haryana — Gurugram and Rohtak — were selected for the GFC award.

Depending on the efficiency of its waste management system and resources, a city is rated out of seven stars in GFC, one of the main components in the Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness survey) rankings. The rationale behind the assessment is to encourage cities to reach higher ratings each year and eventually reach the seven-star rating wherein a city is considered to be completely free of garbage.

Door-to-door collection of waste, segregation at source, waste processing, plastic ban, scientific landfill are among the key parameters in a GFC assessment.

No city in the country has got more than five stars in the GFC rating since it was introduced in 2018.

MCG officials said they applied for a five-star rating assessment for Gurugram this year, and added that both Gurugram’s GFC rating, as well as its ranking in the 2021 Swachh Survekshan, will be declared on Saturday.

“The GFC award is a recognition of the continuous efforts made by the MCG in the past few years to make the city cleaner and an acknowledgement that the policies and initiatives we introduced have brought about a positive change. The city’s star rating will be declared at the time of felicitation on Saturday,” said Anil Mehta, SBM consultant, MCG.

MCG officials privy to the matter said they expect the city to receive a three-star rating.

Last year, six cities across the country received a five-star GFC rating, 65 received a three-star rating, and 70 received a one-star rating. Gurugram did not receive a GFC rating last year, officials said.

An official release issued by the MCG on Monday, regarding the city receiving a GFC award, stated that former MCG SBM joint commissioner Dheeraj Kumar introduced several new initiatives to make the city garbage-free for the 2021 Swachh Survekshan, such as the introduction of a zero-waste day, special campaigns to stop the use of polythene and plastic, and the introduction of cloth bag banks as initiatives which led to an improvement in garbage control.

Zero-waste day was introduced in December 2020. On these days, the MCG only picks up wet waste from households. Until last week, this day was observed once a week.

From November 11, the MCG made it compulsory for residents to segregate garbage into dry and wet waste.

In February, MCG issued a notification saying that the usage of plastic and polythene can invite a penalty amounting to ₹25,000, while the city’s first cloth bag bank--to help eliminate the need for polythene bags--opened in Sector 8 in December last year. On Monday, the second such bank opened in South City 2.

“The MCG is continuously working towards making the city clean and beautiful. Under the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, citizens have been asked to segregate the waste at the primary level itself and only separate waste is being collected. Continuous efforts are also being made to promote home composting while door-to-door garbage collection system is also being strengthened further,” said Mukesh Kumar Ahuja, commissioner, MCG.

While MCG has introduced new initiatives for garbage control over the last 12 months, it is yet to solve long-term issues such as finding an alternative landfill for dumping the city’s garbage, starting the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant at the Bandhwari landfill, and putting to use its mobile construction and demolition waste processing units.

“The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is already examining the Bandhwari landfill closely and pulling up the MCG for its shortcomings. Further, 1,800 tonnes of mixed waste is being dumped at the landfill daily and far more processing is required to reduce this load at each municipal ward-level. So the GFC rating award seems skewed,” said Ruchika Sethi, founder, Why Waste Your Waste, a citizens’ initiative for decentralised solid waste management.

What is GFC rating?

Depending on the efficiency of its waste management system and resources, a city is rated out of seven stars in GFC. Seven is the highest where the city will be declared completely free of garbage. The rationale behind the assessment is to encourage city’s to reach higher ratings each year and eventually reach the seven star rating.

Parameters

Door-to-door collection

Segregation at source

Sweeping of public and commercial areas

Plastic ban

C&D waste collection

Bulk waste generators compliance

On-site wet waste processing