New Delhi: Indore aces the Swachh Survekshan yet again for the third consecutive year Madhya Pradesh’s commercial capital has retained its swachh crown in Swachh Survekshan 2019 as announced today by President Ram Nath Kovind along with Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State in Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in New Delhi. After Indore, Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur and Karnataka’s Mysuru bagged the title of India’s second and third cleanest city. Congratulating the city on its Swachh hat-trick, Mayor of India’s cleanest city, Indore, Malini Gaur said, “Indore has proven to be No. 1 for the third time in a row in Swachh Survekshan. It is a moment of proud for each one of us. I would like to thank Indore wasis (citizens of Indore) along with the municipal corporation on this huge success.”
Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2019: Indore is India’s Cleanest City Again, Top 10 Highlights
बधाई व धन्यवाद इंदौर
स्वच्छ सर्वेक्षण 2019 में पुनः नं.1 आया है।
स्वच्छता में लगातार तीसरी बार नं.1 आना सम्पूर्ण शहर के लिए गौरव की बात है। इंदौर की जनता, नगर निगम की पूरी टीम व मीडिया को बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद।#SwachhSurvekshan2019#IndoreRahegaNo1#CleanestCityofIndia pic.twitter.com/U47Akfnrmu— Malini Laxmansingh Gaur (@GaurMalini) March 6, 2019
Talking to NDTV about Indore’s determination to remain on the top of the scoreboard in Swachh Survekshan 2019 and the areas the administration focussed on for this year’s Survekshan, Asad Warsi, Swachh Bharat Mission Consultant said,
To retain the title of being India’s cleanest city every year in Swachh Survekshan comes with its own responsibilities. Every year, we have to change our focus areas and show how we are different and better from other cities. This time, Indore focused mainly on reducing the waste generation in the city. We followed the practice of 3 Rs – Reduce, Recycle and Reuse and planned our activities around this particular theme. As a result of these initiatives, we were able to decrease the waste generation from 410 per gram per capita to 402 per gram per capita. Moreover, we made the city ‘a no landfill city’ by removing 15 lakh tonnes of legacy waste in mere six months’ time and have reclaimed 100 acres of land which is now worth Rs. 400 Crores.
Today, Indore city boasts of 100 per cent waste segregation at source and is also the only city in the country whose bulk generators are also managing their own waste and keeping the city clean. Mr Warsi adds,
Another aspect that sets Indore apart from other cities is the way we are managing our waste. Today more than 30,000 households in the city are managing their own wet waste through the process of composting. Moreover, the municipality has also taken a lead in managing the construction waste. We are converting the construction waste into bricks which we are being successfully used in the construction activities of the municipality.
Indore is also successfully converting waste from two of its biggest vegetable mandis (markets) into bio CNG which is being further used in public buses in 15 of its Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). Apart from this, plastic waste from the city is being successfully sent to the plastic waste treatment facility where it is being converted into diesel. Currently, the treatment plant is able to process 8 tonnes of plastic every day and generates 3,500 litres of diesel on a daily basis.
Along with gaining the award for India’s cleanest city, Indore has also won the award in the ‘Innovation – Community-led initiative category’ in Swachh Survekshan 2019. Highlighting the details about the win in this category, Mr Warsi added,
How much excellence we have achieved in waste management is very evident now across the country as our large popular events have become zero waste. Recently two main events in the city with the gathering of over 2 lakh people were held in a waste-free manner. In the first event, 150 metric tonnes of waste was produced in 10 days time. Out of this, 120 tonnes was food waste and was managed successfully via the process of composting and the remaining was dry waste which was managed through the process of recycling. Whereas, in the second event, around 90 tonnes waste was produced in a time of 3 days and it was managed completely via the process of recycling and composting.
Mr Warsi signs off with a message for other cities,
Waste management is not a difficult task, one just needs the will to say ‘no waste will go into the dustbin’. Indore has been successfully managing its waste – be it in terms of composting or recycling and that is the reason why we have made Indore a zero landfill zone.
It is not only waste management that Indore is excelling in, the city is also one of India’s first city to attain the title of Open Defecation Free Plus Plus (ODF ++), which means total sanitation in terms of solid waste management, improved sewerage lines, stormwater drains, and pucca cement roads, in addition, to open defecation free tag.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
