New Noida CEO hopes the city moves up in cleanliness index

Noida’s secured 150 th spot in the national rankings of the Swachh Survekshan, 2019, as compared to neighbouring Ghaziabad securing 13th rank.

On the first day of joining office, newly-appointed chief executive officer of Noida authority, Ritu Maheshwari on Monday said she will undertake efforts to ensure that Noida improves its ranking in the cleanliness index.

In the 2019 Swachh survey, Noida was far behind Ghaziabad, which stood 13. (Sunil Ghosh / HT Photo)

Her announcement came in reference to Noida’s securing 150 th spot in the national rankings of the Swachh Survekshan, 2019 as compared to Ghaziabad securing 13th rank.

Maheshwari, a 2003-batch Indian Administrative Services officer, was posted as Ghaziabad district magistrate before joining the Noida authority.

In the 2019 cleanliness index, Noida lagged behind Loni, a small town on the Delhi-Ghaziabad border, as well with Loni securing 113th position.

Noida had secured the 324th spot in the 2018 Swachh Survekshan rankings because it neither has a sanitary landfill site to treat waste nor did it comply to many Waste Management- 2016 rules, officials said.

“Noida is a better city as compared to many cities in terms of infrastructure. The authority has done a lot of work for sanitation and cleanliness. But a lot of work still needs to be done. We will bridge the gaps which prevail in the sanitation system. We will ensure door-to-door garbage collection, focus on composting of kitchen waste and dump only treated sewage into drains. Noida is soon going to jump up in the Swachhta index,” Maheshwari said.

She added that the authority will engage the residents’ welfare associations(RWAs) in the cleanliness drives so that the composting can be encouraged in housing societies as well.

“We will do away with open garbage collection points and use recycled plastic in road construction. We will also make compost of kitchen waste and also recycle flower waste. with all these initiatives in place, now Noida will participate in the run-up to the 2020 cleanliness index as the process for the same is about to begin,” Maheshwari said.

On Monday also inspected various departments located in Noida authority’s Sector 6 administrative building.

“Maintenance of records in the office needs improvement. We will make sure that all departments are neat and clean. We need to ensure cleanliness also in our workplace as well,” Maheshwari said.

Noida produces around 650 metric tonnes of waste daily and it has hired private firms, which collect and work on disposing of the waste.