The municipal corporation’s efforts to upgrade its rank in the ongoing Swachh Survekshan seem to be going down the drain with the popularity of the civic body steadily decreasing. The performance report in the Swachhata App and the Swachh City ranking dashboard of the Union government captures the decreasing trend.
Despite several initiatives, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is continuously getting poor response from citizens, which is one of the prominent parameters to do well in the survey. So far the civic body has received a mere 40 responses from the citizens through the app. When it comes to Swachh City, it stands at 189th position among the 4,000-odd cities in the country.
Among the initiatives, the civic body has launched a tableau that is moving round the city to enlist citizen feedback. A rigorous social media campaign is also on as part of the survey.
“They should have done something similar to make citizens aware about opting for good sanitation practice than begging for votes,” said Patia resident Jitendra Mohanty.
The situation is of concern for the state capital since other towns such as Sambalpur and Cuttack are ahead in the race. According to reports, Sambalpur has received 86 responses through the Swachhata App, while Cuttack has 49. When it comes to Swachh City dashboard, Sambalpur has taken the lead and stands at the 183rd spot.
Swachhata App is a smartphone application that citizens could use to send their feedback on city’s cleanliness for the ongoing Swachh Survekshan. Greater participation would mean better rank for a city. The Swachh City is a dashboard of the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs where several cities get their daily ranking on cleanliness.
Sources said the city’s poor performance was mainly due to the lack of initiative on the part of the civic body. To foster a sense of competition and maintain cleanliness, the state government had asked the civic body to conduct various focused cleanliness drives. Accordingly, it started a Swachh Hospital and a Swachh Neighbourhood competition, but the drive did not continue.
The civic body also faltered on drives such as Swachh Souchalaya, Swachh Bazaar, Swachh Office or Swachh Park. Moreover, the civic body is likely to lose marks for management of solid waste since it is yet to set up waste-to-energy plant, composting plant, identify separate site for disposal of faecal sludge and plastic shredding unit among others.
“We are doing our bit and improving the status of cleanliness in the city. We have conducted several drives to sensitise citizens. We are conducting rigorous sweeping activities. We have doubled the number of public toilets. We urge the citizens to contribute and support us in our activities,” said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
Courtesy: The Telegraph
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