Over 21k students vote for cleanliness in NMMC initiative

Over 21,000 students from Navi Mumbai civic schools participated in NMMC's 'Cleanliness Vote', rating city cleanliness and providing feedback via a ballot.

Navi Mumbai: More than 21,000 students from civic schools in Navi Mumbai participated in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) ‘Cleanliness Vote’ initiative. Conducted across 80 schools, students from classes 5 to 10 experienced the voting process their parents followed, sharing their views on the city’s cleanliness.

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As part of the Swachh Survey 2024 campaign, every student received a ballot paper titled ‘Navi Mumbai City Cleanliness Vote – Student’s Feedback’ featuring seven objective questions. These included queries on garbage collection, waste segregation, the cleanliness of nullahs, knowledge of 3R centres, the condition of public toilets, and awareness of digital tools for locating public toilets.

Students rated the cleanliness of their areas and ranked the overall city cleanliness on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. Municipal Commissioner Kailas Shinde, who initiated the programme and visited schools during the voting, said, “It is important that we get feedback from the next generation of our city and understand their views. It also aims at subconsciously inculcating the culture of cleanliness in them.”

Vishnu Mhatre, a class 7 student from Vashi, shared, “It was quite a new experience for us. We went through the entire voting process and believe that we too can make a difference to the city as our views have been sought and obviously they matter.”

Sanghratna Khillare, deputy municipal commissioner (Education), explained that the voting process included setting up an election booth in schools with a center head to coordinate. Students’ names were called, identity cards verified, fingers inked, and then given permission to vote. The ballot box was sealed once all votes were cast.

“The response of the students through the ballots will be tabulated and submitted by the school principal to the centre coordinator, and the results will be announced,” Khillare added.