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Doon keeps fingers crossed ahead of Swachh Survekshan rankings
Dehradun civic authorities kept their fingers crossed ahead of the release of the Swachh Survekshan-2017 rankings as a part of the national sanitation survey on May 4
Dehradun civic authorities kept their fingers crossed ahead of the release of the Swachh Survekshan-2017 rankings as a part of the national sanitation survey on May 4.
Last year, the Uttarakhand capital emerged as one of the poorest performers, and this time the competition is even fiercer with over 434 cities participating against the last year’s 73.
Civic authorities in Dehradun - which generates around 350 metric tonnes of solid waste daily but lacks a scientific waste disposal mechanism - said they were hopeful of a “better ranking” this time.
“We undertook various measures to improve sanitation of Dehradun over the past one year... some of them were successful, some not. We also began construction of a waste processing plant and scientific landfill (garbage dumping) site over the year. Overall, we are expecting a better ranking this time,” Dehradun mayor Vinod Chamoli told HT.
The survey commissioned by the union ministry of urban development under Swachh Bharat Mission - the central government’s flagship program to improve cleanliness in the country - was conducted during January-February this year.
“The results have been tabulated comprehensively while taking into consideration reports submitted by local bodies, an independent third party assessment of 17,500 locations (by quality assessors) and public feedback of over 18 lakh citizens (on extent of sanitation in their cities),” an union urban development ministry official, who did not wish to be named, told HT.
“More than rankings, citizens’ perception and field reports are more exciting,” union minister for urban development M Venkaiah Naidu said in a tweet ahead of the release of the survey results.
In 2016, Dehradun had emerged as one of the poorest performers in terms of cleanliness, finishing at the 61st spot among 73 cities that were studied in the Swachh Survekshan-2016.
Doon civic body to launch its first underground bin
The Dehradun Municipal Corporation will launch its first underground dustbin of the state capital located in Nehru Colony area on Thursday.
The project, under which around 80 underground or below-the-surface bins, were to be installed across the city, has been long delayed. It hit a roadblock as most of the spots identified by it have either come to be embroiled in some land disputes or are facing protest from the public.
