Centre’s Swachhta App launched in Gurugram

Gurugram

Gurugram now has a new ‘Swachhata’ app which promises to resolve complaints related to sanitation and waste within 12 hours of being reported, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) officials said on Tuesday.

The Swachhata-MoHUA mobile application which is run by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) was launched in the city on Tuesday. Earlier, only three Haryana cities had the Centre’s sanitation app — Hisar, Yamunanagar and Chandigarh. The MoHUA’s app will now replace the Swachh Map app which is run by the MCG, officials said.

“The Swachhata app will replace the Swachh Map app, as sanitation surveys (which decide the Swachh Bharat Ranking of a city) will be based on the new app,” said Yashpal Yadav, MCG commissioner.

Yadav added that all authorities and cleanliness workers in Gurugram have been asked to download the app so that complaints can be resolved in the required time frame. Officials said the Centre’s app also has a better interface than the MCG’s application.

The deadline for the resolution of a complaint in the MCG app was 48 hours. The Swachhata-MoHUA app can be downloaded from play store on smart phones, and the users of the app can post photos of any garbage dump, or an unclean public or community toilet, overflowing dustbins, etc. The users can also post complaints about power and water supply in public and community toilets along with animal carcass dumped at an undesignated location.

Swachhata users app will be notified that their complaint has been received by the Union ministry of drinking water and sanitation, which is then forwarded to the city corporation and assigned to the sanitary inspector of the particular ward. The workers from the ward, where the complaint has been filed from, will be sent to clean up the place and resolve the complaint. In the MCG’s Swachh Map app, the supervisor of the ward used to get the notification, after which it was sent to higher authorities, if not resolved.

Additionally, users can also edit or delete their complaints, add photos with the location of the complaint on the app even if they are not present in that area. This is an upgrade from the MCG app since the user had to be on the location of the problem.

In the Centre’s app, the users can also ‘vote up’ on any complaint relevant to them. Regular updates on the status of the complaint are given to the user in the form of a push notification with the ‘Resolved’ image, which is then uploaded by the assigned sanitary inspector or engineer. Complaints can be reopened if the user is not satisfied with the resolution of the complaint.

Unlike the Swachh Map app, along with an investigation and reprimanding, the government will also deduct points from the Swachh Bharat rankings of the city (compiled through cleanliness surveys or Swachh Survekshan) if a complaint remains unresolved within 12 hours.

In July, Hindustan Times had reported about fake images being uploaded by the authorities on the Swachh Map app functioning in Gurugram. Yadav, however, assured that to avoid any repeat, the app feed will be “closely monitored”.

First Published: Sep 05, 2018 07:41 IST