Star rating a challenge for GVMC

The regional workshop on garbage-free cities sets the tone for cities to prepare themselves for yet another competition on cleanliness under Swachh Bharat Mission.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has prescribed 12 parameters for cities in the new star rating. A draft action plan has been readied and guidelines are being prepared for it, according to officials. But nothing prevents any city from toning up its sanitation further as the parameters deal with well-known objectives.

For instance, if 60 % of households are covered under door-to-door collection of garbage, the ULB gets one star and if it is 100 per cent, it gets three stars.

In a similar manner, segregation of waste at source, sweeping of various parts of the city, collection of user charges, fines for littering or non-segregation, processing of construction and demolition waste, ban on plastic, scientific landfill, dumpsite remediation etc.

Having stood fifth all over the country in the Swachh Bharat Survekshan in 2016 and emerging the third cleanest city in the country in 2017, the city looks forward to do well in the star-rating. There is no word as yet on the ranking GVMC has received in the Swachh Survekshan 2018.

Waste disposal

The parameters prescribed by the MoHUA deal with micro-level aspects of the waste generation and disposal and how it deals with bulk waste generators.

However, while the city has banned use of plastic carry bags below 50 microns, the implementation has been facing problems. Its criss-crossing storm water drains face the recurring problem of being clogged with plastic and other waste. Fine for non-segregation of waste is doorstep is resorted to occasionally.

Each city can decide for itself where it stands going by the star standards fixed for each of the parameters, says Chief Medical Officer (Health) A. Hemanth.

Around 150 to 200 ULBs from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana participated in the sixth regional workshop in the city on Wednesday.

A total of 15 workshops will be conducted after which the star-rating programme will be launched.

Once the programme is launched since the parameters are known before hand it will take two weeks for GVMC to assess itself, says Dr. Hemanth.

MoHUA will take up third party verification only for three, five and seven star ratings. Having already been declared open defecation free (ODF) the city can aim to be three-star and above. But the ODF status has to be cross-verified by the Union Ministry, he adds.