South surprise in Swachh ranking
HIGH JUMP From 202 last year, South Delhi’s Municipal Corporation has moved up to 32 in the national ranking in 2018
NEWDELHI: The New Delhi Municipal Council, which moved up by three positions in the Swachh Survekshan rankings announced by the ministry of housing and urban affairs on Saturday and the Delhi Cantonment, which was ranked first in the new category of “Cantts” across India, was good news. But the surprise was the South Delhi’s Municipal Corporation’s performance. From 202 in last year’s ranking, it moved up to 32 in the national ranking.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which managed to bag 206th rank this year in comparison to 279th rank in 2017 survey, could have done better if the implementation of the projects would have gone well. The worst among all was the East Corporation, which slipped from its last year’s ranking of 196 to 317 this year. No addition in infrastructure and implementation of new pilot project to improve its sanitation services has affected its ranking this year.
KS Mehra, former commissioner of unified MCD, said the Cantonment Board and NDMC have limited areas and population so maintaining them is not a big issue. “In comparison, the North, South and East Corporation, which are occupying 96% of city, face bigger challenges. Though the SDMC has learnt to utilise its resources efficiently over the period of time, the other two are still dependent on the Centre for funding their projects. Ideally, they should plan and learnt to utilise their resources properly,” he said.
HOW SDMC DID IT
Proper planning, timely action and teamwork has helped the civic agency to achieve better results this year, said SDMC officials.
“We were serious about the survey from the beginning itself and everything was planned accordingly. There were teams dedicated for each wards. They not just educated the residents about the importance of Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, but also initiated projects on pilot basis in certain localities for implementing the concept of segregating waste at source,” said Rajiv Jain, the nodal officer for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in the SDMC.
For example, in RK Puram and Dwarka, the SDMC established waste processing units and started segregating garbage at community bins (dhalaos) by engaging waste pickers. “This helped us reduce the amount of garbage going to the landfill,” Jain said.
Similarly, 277 markets such as Hauz Khas, Green Park and Lajpat Nagar, were identified and were swept twice a day.
WHY NORTH CORPORATION COULD NOT IMPROVE MUCH?
Although it moved up from 279th to 206th rank, North Corporation officials concede the municipality could have done better if the projects were implemented on time. “We had planned everything, but the enforcement was lacking,” said an official on condition of anonymity. Projects such as installing bio-methanation plant and increasing the capacity of waste-to-energy plant and reclamation of Bhalswa landfill are all behind schedule.
WHY EAST DELHI FELL BEHIND?
Failing to find any new site, the civic agency continued to dump garbage at Ghazipur landfill, declared exhausted in 2002. There are no funds to launch new projects and distribute the salary of employees on regular basis. “Unlike North and South Corporation, we have no alternative land where garbage can be dumped. This has delayed our project to reclaim the Ghazipur landfill. Also, we started the tendering process for increasing capacity of WTE plant at Ghazipur after the Swachh Survekshan was completed,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.
SANCHIT KHANNA/HT
Five neighbourhoods — Jor Bagh, Pandara Park, Bapa Nagar, Kaka Nagar and Golf Links — were declared zero-waste zones. The Council conducted door-to-door campaigns for segregation of waste at source through nukkad plays, provided citizens' services through NDMC app 311 and installed smart bins. Regular cleaning and beautification of 277 markets, installation of 71 fixed compacting stations for garbage collection, engaging covered trucks for transporting garbage, beautification of areas under flyovers, organising camps for citizen feedback and awareness. Tendering of new waste to energy plant at Tehkhand. Organised public awareness campaigns about sanitation, installed eight garbage compactors, engaged 24 loaders and 104 auto tippers for lifting garbage from narrow lanes, increased capacity of Construction & Demolition plant at Burari, beautified area underneath two flyovers, sanitation drive. No enhancement of waste-energy and waste plants. Lack of decentralisation of waste processing and installation of fixed compacting stations. No new site identified for landfill after Ghazipur got over-saturated, poor financial condition, delays in salary payment to sanitation workers and repeated strikes. Regular field visits by officials, routine sweeping is outsourced, which adds to the workforce of the Cantonment Board. Segregation of construction and demolition waste. Construction of e-toilets. Converting bio-degradable waste and using it to develop parks and public spaces.