Mayor calls for residents' help to keep Indore 'swachh'

Declaring that improvement of urban sanitation was the "highest priority" task, mayor Krishna Murari Moghe said the cooperation of residents was essential for keeping Indore clean.

Declaring that improvement of urban sanitation was the "highest priority" task, mayor Krishna Murari Moghe said the cooperation of residents was essential for keeping the city clean.

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The mayor stressed the need to sensitise residents about the importance of doorstep-level segregation of organic and inorganic garbage, an essential prerequisite for proper processing of municipal waste.

Moghe's remarks came during an Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC)-organised symposium on Swachha Bharat Abhiyan on Wednesday, a day before the nationwide cleanliness campaign is to get underway.

Elected representatives, more than a dozen community groups and NGOs as well as eminent citizens from all walks of life attended the symposium. The community groups and NGOs promised to assist the sanitation campaign through.

The mayor delineated various steps taken by the civic body to improve sanitation but said the efforts were doomed to failure without people's participation. Moghe also administered an oath of awareness towards sanitation and performing shramdaan to keep the city clean to delegates.

Collector Akash Tripathi lauded the Corporation's efforts in solid waste management and said the work carried out in landfill and composting was probably the first such initiative anywhere in the state.

Reiterating Moghe's remarks, the Collector said keeping the city clean was not just the civic body's responsibility but residents had an equally important role to play. Pointing out that the IMC had shored up its SWM arsenal, Tripathi suggested that kids should be educated about the importance to maintain sanitation.

Mayor-in-Council (MiC) Health committee said daily waste collection had gone up from 350 metric tonnes to nearly 850 metric tonnes but asserted that the city would never be clean until residents understood their responsibility.

He said the IMC was procuring SWM equipment including small vehicles, containers, bins etc worth nearly Rs 10 crore to improve the sanitation situation.