Swachh Survekshan 2020: Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai Is India’s Third Cleanest City. Here’s How The City Achieved The Title

New Delhi: Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai, is India’s third cleanest city, as per the results of Swachh Survekshan 2020 in cities with population more than 10 lakh. In this category, Navi Mumbai is preceded by Gujarat’s Surat at number 2 and Madhya Pradesh’s Indore at number 1. Navi Mumbai’s efforts in making the city swachh (clean) and swasth (healthy) have seen continuous improvement in its Swachh Survekshan ranking.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2020: Indore Continues Its Winning Streak, Is India’s Cleanest City Again; Here’s The List Of Winners

In the first round of Swachh Survekshan in 2016, out of the 73 cities assessed, Navi Mumbai ranked 12. In 2017, when 434 cities were surveyed, Navi Mumbai was among the top 10 cleanest cities. In 2017, it took the eight position, in 2018, the city slipped to ninth position and was awarded India’s Best Large City in ‘Solid Waste Management’. However, in 2019, it made a comeback and attained seventh position. The same year Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) was also awarded Best City above 10 lakh population in ‘Citizens’ Feedback’ category.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2020: Gujarat’s Surat Is India’s Second Cleanest City, Here’s A Lowdown Of All the Things Done Right

In the fifth edition of Swachh Survekshan, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) introduced Swachh Survekshan league. This was done to promote year round cleanliness, sanitation and waste management efforts among competing cities , rather than working right before the annual survey. In the first and second quarter of Swachh Survekshan league, Navi Mumbai attained eighth and third rank respectively.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan League 2020: Indore Tops The Chart, Again, Adjudged Cleanest City Of India

Congratulations to Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra for securing the 3rd Rank in "India's Cleanest City" category.

With the help of unique projects such as the Zero Waste Slum Initiative, the 'Plastiman' campaign & the Greensole initiative, local authorities were able to achieve this. pic.twitter.com/Ku8PlguSIg

— Swachh Bharat Urban (@SwachhBharatGov) August 21, 2020

How Navi Mumbai Became India’s Third Cleanest City

NMMC has earned laurels for efficient waste management, declaring the city open defecation free (ODF) and initiating various innovative IEC (information, education and communication) campaigns and other projects:

1. Open Defecation Free: The NMMC looks after 111 wards of the urban local body (ULB). Across all the wards, the city is also ODF. It has also attained ODF++ status which means total sanitation in terms of solid waste management, improved sewerage lines, storm water drains and pucca cement roads, in addition to achieving 100 per cent segregation of waste at source.

Since Navi Mumbai is a planned city, we have a sufficient number of public toilets and community toilets and the initial planning helped us in getting ODF, ODF+ and ODF++ tag, said Rahul Khandare, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) specialist, SBM-Urban, Maharashtra.

Navi Mumbai has 128 public toilets with all the basic amenities like sanitary napkin dispenser, soap, regular supply of water and 278 community toilets.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2020: Indore Is India’s Cleanest City Yet Again, Here’s Why

2. 5-star Garbage Free Rating: Based on parameters like door-to-door waste collection, waste management, on a scale of 1 to 7 cities are certified as garbage free. In 2019-2020, under government’s Star Rating Protocol, a total of six cities were certified as 5-Star garbage free and Navi Mumbai was one of them.

3. Online Monitoring Of Waste Collection: 119 vehicles collect segregated waste door-to-door. The waste collection vehicles have a unique QR code through which they are tracked. Explaining the process, Mr Khandare said,

There used to BE loopholes in the collection and transportation of waste. Trucks and tempos were not working on a daily basis. To resolve this, QR based monitoring was introduced. Dustbins are linked to waste pick-up vehicles. It creates a record of how many dustbins have been emptied by a particular vehicle. The collected waste is transported to recycling units, composting sites and other processing units.

4. Recycling Construction And Demolition Waste: A dedicated construction and demolition (C&D) waste management plant has been installed to recycle the waste. C&D waste is collected, transported to the waste management plant where it is broken and grinded into finer particles and then used in the construction of road and paver blocks.

Also Read: Swachh Survekshan 2020: After Getting Awarded As The Cleanest Cities Of India, Indore, Surat And Navi Mumbai Authorities Thank Their Citizens

5. E-waste Management: E-waste is also collected and processed at a designated facility. The waste is also being utilised in the beautification of the city. For instance, using the chips used in numerous electronic devices, ‘Swachh Survekshan 2020’ has been written outside the NMMC office.

Outside Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporations’s office: Swachh Survekshan 2020 written using e-waste

6. Swachhta Park: Until two years ago, a piece of land was used as a dumping ground in the city but in 2018-19, it got a makeover and was converted into a park. From morning to evening, the park gets visitors. The park also has a ‘waste museum’ built to create awareness about different kinds of waste, their shelf life and treatment.

Dumping ground turned into Swachhta Park in Navi Mumbai

7. Liquid Waste Management: The city has seven Sewage Treatment Plants (STPS) based on sequential batch reactor (SBR) technology. SBRs treat wastewater such as sewage in batches. The wastewater goes through a five step process before treated and cleaned water is released.

Coronavirus Pandemic: Bio-medical Waste Management

Currently, Navi Mumbai is a red zone or as we call Coronavirus hotspot. There are special COVID facilities in the city; with the rise in the COVID-19 cases, the bio-medical waste generation has also increased. To ensure effective management, we are following government’s guidelines on handling and treating waste. Through IEC campaigns we are educating citizens to segregate their bio-medical waste. There are dedicated vehicles for COVID waste collection and the sanitation workers have been trained for the same, informed Mr Khandare.

Also Read: Apart From Indore, Here’s How The Other Cities Of Madhya Pradesh’s Shined At The Swachh Survekshan 2020

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.