Hyd best mega city: Swachh Survekshan
Beats Greater Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi
Hyderabad has been adjudged best mega city in the Swachh Survekshan
2020 citizens’ feedback category. It also trumped Greater Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, north and south Delhi and is ranked 23rd in the overall category.
The greater Hyderabad municipal corporation (GHMC) roped in the civic body’s sanitation wing and instructed to them give feedback in person and through various other platforms. Supervised by an additional commissioner (Swachh Bharat mission), zonal commissioners played a key role enhancing the marks in the feedback category.
For Swachh Survekshan
2020, the centre has allotted a total of 6,000 marks divided in four categories: service-level progress, certification, direct observation and citizen feedback. Each category had 1,500 marks. In the first, 200 marks were reserved for SS 2020 league and the remainder for servicelevel progress; 1000 marks for garbage-free status (GFC) and 500 towards
ODF++) certificate in the second category.
The star certification comprised 1,000 out of
6,000 marks. The third and fourth categories did not have subcategories and all marks were dedicated to the overall observation by the survey conductors and on the basis of citizen participation and feedback on the GHMC’s work.
According to highly placed sources, after the declaration of the Swachh Survekshan ranking during January-February this year, the corporation has hidden the ranking since it had slipped from
27 in 2018 to 38 in 2019. However, in order to achieve a better ranking, the corporation has relied upon the citizens feedback category despite maintaining poor sanitation.
During the field visits, the centre’s sanitation workers were deployed in disguise at multiple locations, so the team members could take feedback randomly between 6am and 9am. The gamble worked for the civic body since the timing of the centre team’s visit was known well in advance.
Against this backdrop, the GHMC has been awarded in the above-40 lakh population category and ranked 23rd in the
above-10 lakh population category for overall performance, ahead of other competing metros.
This year there were separate rankings for cities with one lakh or more population and those below one lakh. It is based on an assessment of progress from January
2019 till December 2019 under the Swachh Bharat mission urban which covers 4,384 cities. The central government released these rankings on Thursday. There are 500 cities with a population above 1 lakh. Hyderabad participated under the category of cities with a population above 1 lakh.
It was conducted in three quarters of the previous year 2019, in a bid to keep the cleanliness drive spirited throughout the year. The annual cleanliness survey was conducted between January and February 2020 by the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA).
“With the co-operation of public representatives, citizens and the efforts of sanitation workers, the Hyderabad city secured a good rank in the performance of sanitation,” said, mayor, Bonthu Ramohan.
Adding that GHMC has been appreciated for the implementation of innovation and best practices in the country, including the installation of green kiosks (street food park), a special park for dogs, two bins with recycled plastic, and the feed the need initiative.