The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) won the ‘cleanest small city’ award for the second consecutive year under Swachh Survekshan 2019. The category includes cities with populations of one to three lakh.

However, in the overall ranking, the NDMC lost a rank to 5th this year. In all, 4,237 cities across the country were surveyed this year.

NDMC chairperson Naresh Kumar said, “This (the fall in rank) has happened primarily because single-use plastic ban is not in place in Delhi. A case involving traders is still going on in the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal. We would have gotten 300 points more if the ban was in place.”

Only 3% of Delhi’s geographical area and population come under the NDMC, but it is considered the seat of political power in India. It managed to get a ‘3 star Garbage Free City’ rating, and ‘Open Defecation Free (ODF) ++’ tag for setting up toilets with the “best international standard facilities”. The NDMC had got the ‘ODF’ certificate in 2016.

Kumar said the council’s biggest achievement has been in giving “due respect and training” to sanitation workers who are now called ‘safai sevaks’.

“We have 2,205 safai sevaks with the NDMC who we took to Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore, to attend workshops and learn best practices,” Kumar said. This NDMC’s Swachh Survekshan story is not just about machines, but the human beings involved, he stressed.

A senior NDMC official, who deals with solid waste management, said, the council has achieved “door-to-door garbage collection in all its 14 circles”.

First Published: Mar 07, 2019 02:21 IST