Noida rides on safaigiri, pink toilets to 25th spot

Noida: The city leaped from the 150th spot last year to the 25th in the nationwide Swachh survey this year among cities with less than 10 lakh population. In the state, it bagged the top spot among cities that have a population between 1 and 10 lakh.
Riding on an improved waste management mechanism, Noida climbed several spots from its rankings in 2019 (150) and 2018 (324). This time, Noida competed with 381 other cities across the country with a population of 1-10 lakh.
Officials said that after the dismal ranking last year, the Noida Authority had planned out a slew of measures. Waste management and segregation of trash at source were considered primary areas that needed to be tackled with urgency. This was coupled with the Authority’s safaigiri drive in several sectors on weekends.
An officer on special duty was tasked with supervising the cleanliness and sanitation drives on weekends. A separate agency was hired for cleaning of markets and roads at night.
To prevent littering at public places, dustbins were installed in market areas and busy intersections and the Authority imposed a fine on spitting and urinating. Residential blocks were provided with composting machines for processing wet waste and bamboo nets placed near open drains to discourage people from dumping waste directly into them.
The Authority also constructed more than 300 public toilets. The effort yielded results on December 31 last year, when Noida was declared an open defecation free ++ city. It also secured the 3-star garbage free city tag on June 24 this year.
“It is good to see that the efforts of the whole team are getting acknowledged. We will strive to make Noida the number one city in the country next year” said Ritu Maheshwari, the CEO of the Authority.
Noida, however, needs to address a few problem areas to get into the top slots next year. Recycling of waste is one such area. Indu Prakash Singh, the officer on special duty, said, “At present, waste collection and segregation is happening in a seamless manner. But without recycling the waste and proper management of the landfill site, it will be difficult to improve our ranking. Also, some public toilets have to be renovated. But this year’s results have motivated us to do more.”