Hindustan Times (Noida)

As last leg of Swachhta survey starts, no idaho pesto do better

NO STONE UNTURNED Authority, locals say progress seen in waste management, maintainin­g cleanlines­s, etc

- Vinod Rajput vinod.rajput@htlive.com

NOIDA : As the last leg of the Swachh Survekshan 2020 (SS 2020) survey by the ministry of housing and urban affairs kicked off on Saturday, Noida hopes to improve its ranking on the index this year.

In this third round of the survey, teams from the union ministry will conduct random inspection­s in Noida to check cleanlines­s levels and gather feedback from the residents.

Officials of the Noida authority and some residents said Noida has made progress in terms of waste collection, segregatio­n, converting waste into compost among other things and should rank better in the index.

In the last four months, the Noida authority undertook many initiative­s like clean-up drives in different localities, campaigns discouragi­ng single-use plastic, setting up utensils banks, among other measures to improve the city’s performanc­e.

“We have taken many innovative measures such as placing electronic dustbins to collect e-waste, bio-remediatio­n of waste and plogging campaigns to engage the public in cleaning their neighbourh­oods. We have taken multiple steps, but the feedback of citizens is crucial for a better rank,” chief executive officer of the authority, Ritu Maheshwari, said.

The city had ranked 150th in last year’s Swachh Survekshan.

“In the last four-five months, we feel the city looks more beautiful and better than before. The artwork along the city walls, revamping of roads, and waste management among other things are better now. We wish that Noida scores better and is in the top 10 cities in the new ranking,” Tikam Singh, a social activist and a Sector 135 resident, said.

Officials added that no team from the union ministry had visited the city till Sunday. They added the results of the survey will be announced in March, 2020.

The cities will be ranked on their scores out of 6,000 points. The third round carries the most weight in the overall survey.

In the two initial rounds, Noida failed to perform better as the authority started its preparatio­ns only after August 2019, officials said. Meanwhile, Greater Noida is not participat­ing in the survey as it has not started working on it, officials of the Greater Noida authority, said.

 ?? SUNIL GHOSH /HT PHOTO ?? ■
Newly developed park over a garbage ground at Sector 14 in Noida.
SUNIL GHOSH /HT PHOTO ■ Newly developed park over a garbage ground at Sector 14 in Noida.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India