Hindustan Times | Swachh rankings: Poor showing of erstwhile Delhi MCDs continues

Oct 01,2022

While the sanitary condition of areas under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) continues to remain dismal, according to the Swachh Survekshan rankings released on Saturday, the three erstwhile municipal bodies of the city performed marginally better in the annual ranking of cities based on their cleanliness by the central government.

The south corporation grabbed the 28th spot this year, up from last year’s rank of 31, while the east corporation improved its position by six ranks, from 40 last year to 34 this year. However, it was the north corporation that showed the most improvement -- it climbed eight spots from its rank of 45 in 2021 to settle at 37 this year.

Last year, 48 cities had participated in the category of local bodies with population of more than 1 million while 45 cities figure in this category under the 2022 rankings.

This was the last sanitation review in which the three local bodies have taken part separately, and from next year, only the unified MCD will be ranked on its sanitation.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment -- the two other local bodies in the national capital that traditionally fare well in the annual review -- witnessed a marginal decline in their rankings this year.

The NDMC was adjudged the third cleanest among 382 cities with populations between 100,000 and one million. Last year, under Swachh Survekshan 2021, it had topped this category.

Delhi Cantonment slipped from its third spot last year to fifth this year, among the 62 participants in its category.

The sanitation rankings are based on the marks secured by the urban local bodies, out of 7,500 marks, based on service level progress (3,000), certifications (2,250) and citizen’s voice (2,250 marks).

While the service level progress, which accounts for 40% marks, comprises activities such as waste segregation, processing and disposal, the citizen voice (30%) comprises feedback from residents, innovations and disaster preparedness.

Rest of the 30% marks depend on achievements on parameters such as open defection free (ODF) certification, garbage free certificates (GFC).

In the 2022 rankings, soth corporation obtained 4,171 marks (55.6%), east civic body 3,726 marks (49.7%) and north corporation secured 3,455 marks (46%).

Siddharth Singh. programme manager of Environmental Governance and Solid Waste Management, Centre for Science and Environment, said Delhi is yet to get its basics right.

“Besides some pockets where source segregation of waste is taking place, it has not been adopted at a wider level. Segregation is mostly done by the informal sector and even the door-to-door collection is not up to the mark. Half of the 11,500 tonnes of waste Delhi generates daily ends up in dump sites. Burning waste in waste to energy plants or sending it to dump sites is not waste processing,” Singh said.

Atul Goyal, who heads the United RWAs Joint Action (URJA), an umbrella body for residents’ welfare associations, said, “The main problem is lack of collective responsibility and multiplicity of authorities. We can see that the Metro station inside the DMRC premises is clean while the situation under the pillars and metro stations is drastically different. If other cities like Indore and Chandigarh can be clean, So can Delhi.”

NDMC in a statement said it has been awarded “Clean Small City” award in the population category of 100,00-300,000 in the Swachh Survekshan 2022, along with a 5 star GFC ranking and Water Plus Certified city.

The MCD in its response said the erstwhile corporations have improved their rankings in 2022 despite severe a financial crunch and limited resources. “Erstwhile corporations tried their best and all three have performed impeccably in door-to-door waste collection, cleanliness of market areas, residential areas,water bodies, and non-availability of open garbage dumps,” it stated.

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday gave away the awards to the winners at an event in New Delhi, also attended by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and others.