A better show but Gurgaon still ranks a disappointing 83

Gurgaon: Once again, Swacch Bharat rankings, released by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs on Wednesday, have left Gurgaon disappointed, with a national rank of 83 for 2019. This, despite several cleanliness campaigns carried out by MCG in the last 4-5 months, and ODF and ODF++ certifications in its kitty.
Though Gurgaon climbed 22 places from its 2018 ranking of 105, it’s far from being swachh. Out of a total score of 5,000, the city received a composite score of 2,974.41. It scored fairly well in direct observation (1,107/1,250), certification (600/1,250) and citizen feedback (959.55/1,250), but lagged in “service level progress” with a score of 308 out of 1,250.

MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav told TOI, “Even though we’ve jumped several places from last year, the rankings are a disappointment. We’ll strive for better rankings in the next Swachh Survekshan. One of the reasons for the poor show is that we started out cleanliness initiatives a tad late, by which time the survey was already under way.” He added the absence of a construction and demolition (C&D) waste treatment plant is another possible reason for Gurgaon’s disappointing rank. While the city was supposed to get a C&D plant last year itself, the project is in limbo as the appointed agency, IL&FS, has run into financial trouble. The ever-increasing size of the landfill could also have cost the city some points.

Gurgaon should take a lesson from Ghaziabad, which has a fully-functional C&D waste plant with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day. The city has risen in Swachh rankings from 351 in 2017 to 13 in 2019. It has also introduced some innovative measures such as treatment plant for religious waste, vegetable compost, door-to-door collection of waste and segregation at source for over 50% of it.

While Ghaziabad moves ahead with innovative waste disposal solutions, Gurgaon is struggling with basic issues. Absence of a proper sewage disposal system has likely hurt the city’s rankings, said MCG officials.

Regarding the scores, “service level progress” involves direct observation by a team from the ministry on several parameters, such as collection, transportation, processing and disposal of waste, sanitation, behaviour change, capacity building, innovation and best practices.

On collection and transportation, sources said the delay in the citywide implementation of door-to-door garbage collection could be one of the major reasons for the low rank. While the government-appointed agency, Ecogreen Energy Limited, was supposed to cover the whole city since last summer, it’s yet to cover that. Similarly, waste segregation at source has only just begun in the city.

A senior MCG official said, “We’d mandated segregation of waste at households from February 1. However, it will take some time for residents to start the practice, as it requires behaviour change.” Incidentally, in the same time, Ghaziabad has covered over 70 of its 100 wards under door-to-door collection, as well as segregation at source.