VARANASI In the Union Ministry of Urban and Housing Development’s cleanliness survey 2021, Kashi has been ranked the best Ganga town in the country for excellent work in cleanliness at the ghats and along the river in the temple city and its surroundings.
Varanasi had the first rank among 150 Ganga towns in the country, said public relation officer, Varanasi Nagar Nigam, Sandeep Srivastava.
He said this was announced in a grand programme organized at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on Saturday.
President Ramnath Kovid honoured UP urban development minister Ashutosh Tandon, Varanasi mayor Mridula Jaiswal and municipal commissioner Pranay Singh with a citation and trophy, he added.
Srivastava said that this survey was done in the Ganga towns with a population of more than one lakh, between November 2020 to February 2021. The survey took into account the following facts: garbage should not have been dumped anywhere near the ghats and on the banks of the river, it should not be floating anywhere in the river Ganga, ghats should be completely free of plastic and polybags and a message should be disseminated regarding keeping the ghats and surroundings clean.
During the survey, keeping in view the above points, a team of the union ministry of urban development inspected the ghats and river Ganga to assess the status of cleanliness, said Srivastava and added that the Varanasi Nagar Nigam did excellent work on all the points. As a result, Varanasi got the first position in the Ganga Towns Survey 2021.
{{/usCountry}}During the survey, keeping in view the above points, a team of the union ministry of urban development inspected the ghats and river Ganga to assess the status of cleanliness, said Srivastava and added that the Varanasi Nagar Nigam did excellent work on all the points. As a result, Varanasi got the first position in the Ganga Towns Survey 2021.
{{/usCountry}}Munger got second, Patna third, Kanpur fourth and Haridwar fifth position.
Mayor Mridula Jaiswal said, “Receiving the award from the President is a matter of great pride for Kashi. I congratulate the people of Kashi and thank them for their cooperation in keeping the city and the ghats clean due to which Varanasi won this award. This award is a source of inspiration. Every effort will be made to provide better facilities to the citizens.”
Municipal commissioner Pranay Singh said that Varanasi was a religious and mythological city and thousands of tourists and devotees visited it daily. They went to the ghats, watched Ganga aarti and enjoyed boat ride.
He said that all 84 ghats were cleaned daily, four to five major ghats were washed twice daily and a separate sanitation team had been deployed for this work. ‘Arpan Kalash’ had been set up at every 50 metre at the ghats so that flowers and garlands which were offered by the devotees, could be collected and dropped in them.
Proper lighting arrangement was also underway with installation of high mast lights on the ghats, he said.
4700 sanitation workers keep Varanasi clean
City health officer of Varanasi Municipal Corporation NP Singh, said that 700 tonnes of garbage was generated in the city daily. It was disposed of by 4700 sanitation workers who went from door to door and collected it from houses and shops. The 20 garbage dumps built in the city were monitored by CCTV cameras. For garbage disposal, 231 vehicles were deployed, equipped with GPS.
Dr Singh added that waste disposal was monitored from the command centre. The roads were cleaned with mechanized road cleaning machines. Apart from this, the cleanliness of 235 public and community toilets was also ensured daily.