After improving its ranking from 97 to 77 this year, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) said all its efforts bore fruit.

“The civic body’s ranking improved because we managed to streamline our waste collection network. Earlier, we used to lift garbage once a day but now we have made it twice a day —morning and evening,” said Dhanaji Thoraskar, deputy commissioner of solid waste management department, KDMC.

Last year, when the civic body ranked 97 among 500 cities, KDMC had said it would focus on waste collection in the twin cities.

He said, “We also managed to outsource manpower to improve waste collection. We have also managed to start two biogas plants and construction of four more is underway. Waste segregation sheds are being built across the city. The closure of Adharwadi dumping ground is also underway.”

However, residents expect more from the civic body in terms of waste segregation.

“Although ranking has improved, there is lot more things to do when it comes to collect segregated wastes and disposing it efficiently. The civic body does not segregate the waste before dumping. The projects which the civic body has initiated are very slow,” said Mayur Shinde, 37, a resident of Kadakpada, Kalyan (West).

In 2017, KDMC ranked 234 among 464 cities surveyed. The poor ranking was because of the civic body’s failure in implementing the closure process of Adharwadi dumping ground and starting projects for waste disposal.

The civic body started the work for closure of the 15-acre saturated dumping ground in Kalyan (West) in February 2018.

“The civic body might have managed to keep the city clean when the inspection was carried out otherwise the city is not clean at all. Garbage is still dumped in the open. The closure of Adharwadi has been stalled. Waste collection is poor as waste is not segregated. If residents give segregated waste, it is mixed with the other waste and dumped,” said Sreeniwas Ghanekar, an activist from Kalyan, who has been fighting against poor solid waste management in Kalyan.

First Published: Mar 07, 2019 00:49 IST