Failure to separate waste led to fall in cleanliness rank, say SDMC officials
The SDMCs rank had dropped 106 positions, falling to 138 in the nationwide cleanliness survey conducted by the union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), this year.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) officials on Wednesday said that one of the major reasons for their fall in the rankings at the Swachh Survekshan 2019 was “lack of waste segregation.”
The south civic body’s rank had dropped 106 positions, falling to 138 in the nationwide cleanliness survey conducted by the union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), this year.
The east corporation rank, meanwhile, showed improvement from 341 to 240, while the north body slipped from 206 to 282.
Of the three civic corporations in the Capital — north, east and south — only the south is financially stable.
Additional commissioner, Umesh Kumar Tyagi, said in the standing committee meeting of the south civic body on Wednesday, “We have not been able to do successfully segregate waste across all the 104 wards under our jurisdiction. As a result, we lost points.”
Waste segregation into “wet” and “dry” is mandatory under the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016. It is the responsibility of the Urban Local Bodies(civic agencies) to remove crude dhalaos(local waste collecting centres) and replace it with fixed compactors that will compress dry waste. Under the Solid Waste Management Rules, the civic bodies must ensure that organic waste collected from homes and the nearby areas is composted, while the waste in the form of plastic, metal, wood and glass are strictly recycled.
Tyagi also said, “The fact that we weren’t able to achieve ODF++ certification also played against us.” The Open Defecation Free ++ certificate is given to those who have not just provided toilets at every few kilometers for citizens but also ensure that the fecal sludge is scientifically treated and not disposed in a river or water body nearby.”
“Earlier, cities with a population of 10 lakh were only compared with cities of that much population, but the standards were different this time,” said Tyagi.