BHOPAL: It took unmatched dedication and public participation in transforming Swachh Bharat into a public movement in Indore and for this the city has worthily bagged the country’s cleanest city award for the third straight year, said Bhopalites.
We can achieve the feat but for this people of state capital too will have to develop an attitude towards cleanliness, which is pretty evident in Indore, said the Bhopalities professionals who are currently working in the country’s cleanest city, Indore.
These professional who shunting between two cities are happy for Indore, where they work, however, are dismayed at the dismal performance of their home city, Bhopal. But they are hopeful that next year they would regain the lost position.
Bhopal which slipped to 19th position from 2nd rank had to content with being the cleanest state capital. Indore was adjudged India’s cleanest city for the third straight year in the central government’s Swachh Survekshan. It is not the sole responsibility of the authorities to ensure cleanliness, the people will have to equally contribute, they added.
Chaste Bhopalities, who frequently visit Indore, said the residents there have made cleanliness a way of life and it could be seen in their behavior and also evident in every nook and corner of the city.
While travelling in Indore if we throw anything on road, people stare at us, it becomes very awkward, said a city resident, who visited country’s cleanest city recently. Praising the efforts of the Indore authorities, the city residents cited example of Indore’s trenching ground – which was rid of 15 lakh tonnes of legacy waste in six months of time and is being developed.
Bhopal too has a trenching ground at Bhanpur but it is still not shut down properly and fingers are pointed at the its ‘scientific’ closure.
Sameer Karambelkar, a resident of Bhopal and presently working in Indore, said only people could bring the change. “In Indore the civic body is active and so are people and as a resident I feel awkward in dumping garbage outside my house.” Bhanpur Khanti was shut in January 2018, but questions are still being raised over its unscientific closure.
Kamal Chugh, owner of Kabuliwala stores, who frequently shuttles between the two cities, says he has never spitted on road in Indore. “Even if you visit some interior areas, you will find people waiting for municipal garbage collection van. You would never find them dumping waste anywhere but in the van,” said Chug. In Bhopal, the people need to play equal role and contribute towards cleanliness the way the Indorians are doing to stay on first positing for last three years, he added.
Mohan Chaturvedi, retired deputy director of Industries department says that the survey needs to be done in an honest way. He says that we still have pigs roaming around in areas like Kolar. The way our civic body works, I think our rank will drop further, he said disappointingly. Not only the dumping grounds but even the residential areas are full of filthy; only working for a tag is not enough, he rued.
Ashok Verma, an employees’ leader in BMC, says he has visited Indore several times but what surprised him the most was the people awareness toward cleanliness. A Pann kiosk owner after handing me a Gutka pouch asked me to make sure the wrapper is thrown into dust-bin and not on road.