Hyderabad City slips on cleanliness, public awareness area of concern

Hyderabad: Heaps of garbage is dumped on roads, construction debris is all over the place, sewage overflows onto streets and a slight shower throws the city out of gear. In short, the citizens have to fight a bitter battle just to travel from home to workplace and back braving all odds.

The Swachh Survekshan survey, an initiative under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), to rank cities as per their sanitation standards, has awarded 35th rank to Greater Hyderabad. The city slipped by eight ranks when compared to the 2018 rankings, wherein the city was ranked 27.

"It comes as no surprise that the Swachh ranking is dipping," says MK Arvind, a social activist. He adds, "There is a paralysis. The outsourced employees are not motivated, and the regular staff is indifferent."

According to the statistics available at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), in 2015, Hyderabad city was awarded 275th rank among 476 cities in the country, and city got 19th rank among 73 cities across the country in 2016.

In 2017, city was awarded 22nd rank among 434 cities in the country and the rank again slipped by five places and secured 27th rank among 4,041 cities across the country in 2018.

This year, the city is awarded 35th rank in Swachh Survekshan among 4,273 cities across the country. Hyderabad city has got better rank compared to other metropolitan cities like Mumbai (49th rank), Bengaluru (210th rank) and Chennai (61st rank) this year.

Speaking to The Hans India, Soma Bharath, project manager for Swachh Bharat Mission, GHMC, said, "We have scored good marks in documentation of the initiatives taken by the GHMC and direct observation by the team of MoHUA, and we got less marks in citizen feedback and the rank slipped this time, because there is no awareness among people about the questions being asked by the team and the rankings given by the team.

Swachh Survekshan survey depends on three criteria. The team from MoHUA will visit the city and they interact with municipal body and see the documentation prepared by the civic body, and it has scored 973 marks out of 1,400 in 2018, and in this year it has scored 802 out of 1,250.

The second criterion is direct observation, in which officials from MoHUA will visit some areas and observe the cleanliness and other facilities given by the GHMC. In this criterion, the GHMC got 1,177 marks out of 1,200 in 2018, and this year it scored 1,117 out of 1,250 marks.

Third criterion is citizens feedback, in which team will take the citizens feedback to rate the city. In this criterion, the city got 942 marks out of 1,400 in 2018, and this year it got 936 marks out of 1,250.

The GHMC officials said that the documentation of the initiatives taken by it would be done every month in MoHUA portal, and the team will visit the city to observe the things directly, and later they collect the feedback from the citizens about the GHMC initiatives. Then, they will compare everything to give the rank to the particular city. The GHMC received an award for performing best in processing Solid Waste Management under Swachh Survekshan in 2018.

City ranking takes a nosedive

Ð In 2015, Hyderabad city was awarded 275th rank among 476 cities in the country

Ð In 2016, The city secured 19th rank among 73 cities

Ð In 2017, city was awarded 22nd rank among 434 cities in the country

Ð The city secured 27th rank among 4,041 cities across the country in 2018

Ð In 2019, the city secured 35th rank in Swachh Survekshan among 4,273 cities across the country

Ð In 2018, the Government of India made it mandatory for all cities to take part in the ranking