India’s dirtiest city cries for resources
For 12-year-old Binni, treading the kilometre-long stretch in Vishnupuri locality of Gonda with her mother every day to catch a three-wheeler to school has become an obstacle course. She hops, skips and jumps around overflowing heaps of garbage and filth strewn along the street in plastic bags.
By the time she returns home, her shoes are a muddy mess. “This is an everyday routine,” says her mother Shanti.
On Friday, local newspapers prominently reported the Swachch Bharat survey released by the urban development ministry, which declared Gonda as the dirtiest city in the country.
Gonda was ranked 434th and fared poorly on all parameters: waste collection, solid-waste management, construction of toilets, sanitation strategies and behaviour change communication. “The ranking has not come as a surprise. In a state-level survey last year, Gonda had performed poorly,” said a resident of Malviya Ganj locality.
“In Gonda, you won’t find dustbins. Hence, you will see people tossing garbage-filled plastic bags from their balconies or drop it on roadside when they leave for office,” says Shiv Sharan Shukla, 65, a resident of Civil Lines.
Garbage usually lies on the roadside and much of it is burnt by safai (cleanliness) workers or residents. The city has 10 big drains connecting to smaller ones to take sewage to Bisuhi river. Almost all of them are choked with encroachment; dirty water from houses overflows and seeps into the earth, mixing with the groundwater.
Residents say dustbins were placed in different wards years ago but none can be seen now.
Cleanliness being a priority of the state government, where even ministers picked up broom to clean offices, Gonda’s ranking is being viewed seriously. The district has seven assembly constituencies and all have BJP MLAs. Residents say the Swachh Bharat mission, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was only a photo opportunity for officials and leaders.
The government has summoned senior district officials for an explanation. But officials blame it on poor resources and manpower. “There is no permanent head of the municipal corporation. Lack of cleaning staff and poor management is the reason why Gonda fared poorly,” said Gonda ADM, Triloki Singh, who holds additional charge of municipal corporation president. The city, with 1.5 lakh people, has 27 wards and the strength of cleaning workers is only 377.