Bihar draws blank in top 100 ‘clean’ cities

PATNA: Not even a single city from Bihar finds a place in the top 100 cleanest cities of the country, according to the latest Swachh Survekshan report 2019 released by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs (MoHUA) on Wednesday.

MoHUA has been ranking cities under Swachh Bharat Mission of the Centre since 2016. The survey assesses the cities on several parameters like cleanliness, citizen’s feedback and processing of solid waste, among others. The recent survey was disappointing for the state which has four cities being developed into smart cities under the Smart City Mission of the central government.

The survey, which commenced in January and went on for a month, evaluated 4,237 urban local bodies (ULB) on the innovative methods they used to maintain sanitation and cleanliness in their respective cities.

Patna had ranked 70th in the very first survey of 73 cities in 2016. In 2017, the state capital was ranked 262 among the 434 cities whereas it ranked 312th among 500 assessed cities in 2018.

Urban development and housing department minister Suresh Kumar Sharma told this newspaper on Wednesday that awareness among the citizens is required to finish in top 100 cities. “Government is taking several initiatives, but the situation cannot improve unless the residents keep their environment clean,” he said.

Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) also claims to have taken several initiatives to improve the sanitation, said its public relations officer Harshita. “This time we used all our resources and tried our best to come among the top 100. However, we will analyse all our sanitation programmes to identify the loopholes,” she said and added, “This time, there were a few changes in the criteria as well. We will work extra hard to improve our rankings.”