#SwachhSurvekshan2019: With 3 Star Rating And ODF++, New Delhi Municipal Council Is India’s Cleanest Small City

New Delhi: New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), touted as one of the best urban local bodies out of the four municipalities of the national capital Delhi, it was adjudged as ‘India’s Cleanest City’ among small cities (population between one and three lakh). The results of what government claims to be the world’s largest survey – Swachh Survekshan 2019 were announced and winners were awarded by the government by President Ram Nath Kovind, the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Durga Shanker Mishra. NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar and Secretary Rashmi Singh received the award from President of India on behalf of the ‘smart citizens’ and thanked its citizens for making ’smart city’ NDMC win this award.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2019: Indore Is India’s Cleanest City For The Third Year In A Row

New Delhi Municipal Council’s Performance In Previous Editions Of Swachh Survekshan

NDMC has always managed to be in the top 10 of the Swachh Survekshan, a pan India exercise which assesses and ranks the cities on the basis of cleanliness. In January 2016, first ever Swachh Survekshan that covered mere 73 cities, NDMC grabbed the fourth position. But in Swachh Survekshan 2017, which covered 434 cities, NDMC’s rank slipped to seventh and later in 2018, NDMC emerged as fourth cleanest city among 4203 cities competing.

This year 4,237 towns and cities and 62 Cantonment Boards were assessed and we managed to get the fifth position along with the title of India’s Cleanest Small City. It feels great to achieve the cleanest city get and it has been possible because of the efforts of both citizens and the council, says Dr Shakuntala Srivastava, Chief Medical Officer (Coordination), NDMC, while speaking to NDTV.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2019: From Rank 2 To 19, Despite the Drop, Bhopal Wins India’s ‘Cleanest Capital City’ Title

Swachh Efforts For Swachh Survekshan 2019

NDMC Focusses On Waste Management

Paying attention to the waste management, the NDMC has successfully implemented 100 per cent door to door waste collection and segregation in all residential and commercial areas. Talking about the same, Dr Shakuntala says,

We have implemented 100 per cent scientific disposal of collected waste. While the dry waste goes to the waste to energy plant in Okhla, capable of handling 240 metric tonnes (MT) of waste per day, wet waste is composted and horticulture waste in managed separately.

For management of horticulture waste, NDMC has 118 compost pits developed at 36 different parks and gardens in the NDMC area. This way, about 902.68 MT of compost is generated annually which is 10 per cent more than last year.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2019: Indore is India’s Cleanest City Again, Top 10 Highlights

For wet waste management, NDMC has a compost plant of capacity 60 MT per day, 5 bio gas plants (1.52 MT/day) and 20 organic waste converters (4.4 MT/day).

Organic waste converter used by NDMC to manage wet waste

We have a bio gas plant at Laxmi Bai Nagar which is generating 40 cubic meter of bio gas and that is being supplied to the kitchen of Indira Niketan Hostel. The bio gas almost meet their fuel need, says Dr Shakuntala.

To make NDMC area bin free, end open dumping of waste discreetly by keeping garbage out of sight and achieve ‘seven star garbage free cities rating’, the council installed 20 sets of underground bins. With these efforts, NDMC achieved three star rating.

We have just started the process of bin less city and that is why we didn’t manage to achieve seven stars but the work is in progress, says Dr Shakuntala.

In NDMC area, almost 2700 households have adopted for home composting. To promote waste segregation in clusters and bring in a behavioural change, IEC (Information, Communication and Education) activities like nukkad natak, distributing pamphlets, wall painting, were adopted.

Walls painted in NDMC area as part of the Swachh Survekshan 2019

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2019: Here’s What Indore Did To Retain Its ‘Cleanest City Of India’ Title

Bulk Generators Opt For On Site Composting

As per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, bulk waste generators are supposed to utilise their waste inside their premises. 95 per cent of the bulk waste generators like restaurants, hotels, within NDMC are practising on-site processing of organic waste. They have either bio gas plant or organic waste converter to process the waste.

Clean Roads, Clean City

To ensure roads are cleaned all the time, NDMC introduced night sweeping in all commercial and public areas. Seven mechanical road sweepers have been deployed to carry out wet sweeping on a stretch of 210 km, daily.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2019:  Karnataka’s Mysuru Is The Third Cleanest City Of India, Leapfrogs From Rank 8 

Not Just ODF But ODF++

In the year 2014, when Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched, 245 public and community toilets existed in the NDMC area. With change in strategy and planning, the number of toilets not only rose to 342 (304 public toilet units and 38 community toilet units), but NDMC got high-end public, community and smart toilets and got ODF tag from QCI in 2016.

NDMC introduced the concept of smart toilets – equipped with sanitary napkin vending machine, incinerators, water ATM, bank ATM, snack vending machine and digital clinic where people can get immediate first aid, and get their blood pressure and glucose level checked. All the toilets are geo-tagged and connected to sewers.

After ODF, the local body attained ODF+ and ODF++ tag. While ODF+ focuses on sustaining community and public toilet usage by ensuring their functionality, cleanliness and maintenance, ODF Plus Plus centers around achieving sanitation sustainability by addressing complete sanitation value chain, including safe containment, processing and disposal of fecal sludge and septage.

Conclusion

NDMC is the only urban local body which manages to be in the top 10 list of Swachh Survekshan. Last year, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), scored 3,029 out of 4,000 to get to the 206th position, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) attained 341st position and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) stood at 32.

Also Read: After Four Years Of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Is The National Capital Delhi ODF Only On Paper?

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.