JAIPUR: The acid test for the
Jaipur Municipal Corporation (
JMC) began on Monday after three teams from the Centre reached Pink City to inspect the condition of sanitation.
According to sources, while two teams secretly checked areas in Jaipur without informing JMC officials, a third one inspected documents and details of sanitation facilities at JMC headquarters. The teams will judge the city for the cleanliness index being prepared for the country.
After meeting city mayor
Ashok Lahoti, the team verified the documents at the smart city office. The team did not meet the media. Documents submitted by the JMC have been sent online to New Delhi for further verification.
As other teams took feedback from citizens in the field, a jittery JMC administration tried to trace their location. "Citizens' feedback will play an important role in the city's score in the survey. We will now wait for the results, which are expected to be out in the month of May," an official source said.
Jaipur is competing with 4,041 cities of the country for a top 10 finish. Unlike on the past two seasons of Swachh Survekshan, the ongoing pan-India cleanliness survey would emphasise more on citizens' feedback. This year, out of the total 4,000 points, 1,400 will be awarded for data provided by the municipal body, 1,200 for direct observation by the
Swachh Survekshan team and 1,400 for the feedback of citizens.
All cities will be ranked based on 71 sanitation-related parameters with different weightage, ana official said. Negative marking has been introduced this time to ensure that cities do not make false claims about improving sanitation infrastructure.
In 2017, not a single city from Rajasthan managed to secure a spot among the top 150 in the cleanliness ranking. Bundi, the cleanest in Rajasthan, stood at 171. The fall of Pink City in the ranking had attracted the attention of the Centre. During his last visit as former Union urban development minister, vice-president M
Venkaiah Naidu had expressed his disappointed at Jaipur dropping to 215th position in the 2017 survey.
