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Pune fails the cleanliness test this year, ranks 37th in Swachh Survekshan survey
Despite several projects by city authorities, Pune has dropped in its cleanliness rankings on key measures. In 2017, it was ranked 13th, while in 2018 the city was ranked 10th.
The Swachh Survekshan awards 2019, conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday in New Delhi at a ceremony, revealed that Pune may well be stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the city’s cleanliness.
The Pune Municipal Corporation has on its budget expenditure Rs 34 lakh as paid to a consultant(s) for a clean city plan. However, at cleanliness awards given out by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, while Maharashtra is in the top three performing states in India for the second consecutive year, Pune has dropped down the national rankings, with the city 37th out 425 cities.
In 2017, it was ranked 13th, while in 2018 this city was ranked 10th at the Swachh Survekshan awards.
“We received less marks in documentation and certification, for according to parameters, we have completed everything, but perhaps it has not checked properly by the third party companies,” alleged Dynaneshwar Molak, additional commissioner and HOD, solid waste management.
”We assure our citizens that in 2020, this city will be number one in the Swacch Survekshan,” Molak added
Mayor Mukta Tilak said, "We will inquire about why Pune's ranking came down. We had appointed a consultant to improve rankings. We will look into what consultant has done."
The mayor also added that the civic body has taken the rankings seriously and has started preparations for next year.
NCP opposition leader Dilip Barate has demanded an inquiry into the Swachh rankings. "The civic body has spent lakhs of rupees on a consultant who seems to have not done job properly," Barate said.
Citizen activists not surprised
According to citizen activists, though they felt the city has a long way to go and that the rankings probably reflects the reality. “We should examine our shortfalls and work to eradicate all that makes us so low. I am sure we can become number one, but first we must acknowledge that we are not at the top, find out what improvements are needed and make them wholeheartedly,” said Aneeta Gokhale-Benninger, executive director, Centre for Development Studies and Activities, Pune.
According to Sheila Christian, National Society for Clean Cities founder, PMC needs to be strict in implementing its solid waste management rules. “This city needs to have certain rules looked at in a very strict manner like segregation and composting at source. Plastics must be collected separately and converted to fuel. All recyclables must be given to recyclers at source. Every ward must have its own waste management unit. All hotels must have their own composting machines,” Christian said.
She also added that the society used to have an apex committee for sanitation where the citizen could directly interact with the civic sanitation team on a monthly basis. “This has been scuttled by vested interests,” she claimed.
Pune ranked 4th in State, in most polluted city after Mumbai
According to a report compiled and analysed by IQ AirVisual, a software company that tracks pollution worldwide, and Greenpeace, an environmental NGO, Pune ranks 153 in the world, after Mumbai, which is at 71 and Aurangabad at 142.
Of eight cities in Maharashtra measured for air quality, Pune is the fourth most polluted city in the state. Mumbai, Aurangabad and Nagur are ranked more polluted than, while Pune is more polluted than Chandrapur, Nashik, Solapur and Thane, in that order.
The latest data compiled in the IQAir AirVisual 2018 World Air Quality Report lists a ranking of the world’s most polluted cities ranking, based on the state of particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution. The period considered for the study was 2010 to 2016.
Seven of the most polluted cities in the world are in India.
The data for the report was provided by System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) monitoring stations.
“Out of the 3,000 cities included, 64% exceeded the WHO’s annual exposure guideline (10μg/m3) for fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5. Every single one of measured cities with data in the Middle East and Africa exceeded this guideline, while 99% of cities in South Asia, 95% of cities in Southeast Asia and 89% of cities in East Asia also exceed this level. As many areas lack up-to-date public air quality information and are for this reason not represented in this report, the total number of cities exceeding the WHO PM2.5 threshold is expected to be far higher,” the report said.
According to the report, seven million people die every year because of outdoor and household air pollution. “Ambient air pollution alone caused some 4.2 million deaths in 2016, while household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels and technologies caused an estimated 3.8 million deaths in the same period,” the report claimed.
Pujarini Sen, Greenpeace India said, “IQAir AirVisual 2018 World Air Quality Report is a reminder to us indicating that our efforts and actions to reduce the invisible killer, i.e., air pollution are not enough, and we need to do much more than already planned and done. If we want India to breathe clean air, it’s high time that our plans such as NCAP, GRAP, CAP etc. becomes much more stringent, aggressive, legally binding and most of all implementable at ground rather than being just used a political statement without much happening at ground.”
