‘North Indian cities lack sanitation staff’
SWACHH SURVEKSHAN Four of the bottom 10 were in UP, 2 each in Bihar, Punjab fare poorly in sanitation parameters, govt data reveals
NEWDELHI: If you were wondering why north Indian cities fare poorly on sanitation vis-a-vis their southern counterparts, ground-level data shared by 434 municipalities with the Union urban development ministry throws some light.
Shortage of staff seems to have impacted sanitation services in these states, data suggests. Some 60 cities, a majority of them in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, have a more than 40% shortfall in sanitation staff as against the sanctioned strength.
In Bihar, some 12 cities — including Bhagalpur, Begusarai and Munger — have a staff shortage of more than 40%. UP is close behind, with staff shortage in 10 cities that include Rae Bareilly and Mainpuri.
Of the 434 cities that were included in Swachh Survekshan — a nationwide cleanliness survey — 227 have less than 10% shortfall in sanitation staff. In Delhi, all the three municipalities, Delhi Cantonment Board and New Delhi Municipal Council have the required staff strength.
The results of the cleanliness survey were announced last month. North Indian cities fared poorly on all sanitation parameters. Four of the bottom 10 cities were from UP, two each from Bihar and Punjab. Indore in Madhya Pradesh was declared India’s cleanest city.
Door-to-door waste collection was also below 40% in 80 cities. Uttar Pradesh again tops the list with 30 cities followed by Rajasthan and Bihar.
A majority of the municipalities in north India are not collecting any user charges from residents. Some 173 cities including 49 in UP, 24 in Rajasthan and 22 in Bihar have neither notified nor collected user fee.
In 216 cities, garbage collection vehicles were not fitted with global positioning system (GPS) device.
This resulted in municipalities failing to track the vehicles’ movement. Again UP had the maximum number of cities (50) where vehicles were not fitted with GPS. Senior ministry officials said the data mined for the survey will help them take up with states the areas where each of them is lagging.
“States will be told the address the deficiencies so that they meet the sanitation parameters,” said an official.