71% in survey say Swachh Bharat a flop in cities
Dipak Dash
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New Delhi
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In what could be a wake-up call for the Centre to fix weaknesses in the Swachh Bharat initiative, nearly 71% respondents in an online poll conducted by a social media group feel cleanliness in their cities and towns has not improved much in the past one year and want a greater municipal-citizen connect.The online poll on “local circles“, which has over 3 lakh participants, provides a strong feedback that municipalities need a big technology and skill upgrade and must improve actual delivery of sanitation services at the ground level. Involving citi zens in the cleanliness drives as well as in advocacy will also help, the poll indicates.
Swachh Bharat mission was launched by PM Modi on October 2 last year.
The poll has brought to light the gap in capacity of municipal bodies, primarily responsible for collection, transportation and treatment of waste in urban areas. According to the poll, 94% respondents felt civic bodies need major upgrade in skills, processes, equipment system and leadership. Some 96% felt municipal and city leaders should connect with citizens for the success of the mission. An online survey , which found 71% of respondents feel that PM Narendra Modi's ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission has been a flop in urban India, will help in planning the next course of action, a senior government official said on Thursday .
“Efforts are being made to sensitize the municipal authorities and we have been monitoring the progress. It's atime-taking programme. We are providing technical and financial assistance to urban local bodies to implement the scheme,“ the official added.
According to latest government data, 1.42 lakh tonne of solid waste was generated per day in urban areas in July and only 15.33 % of it was processed, indicating how under-equipped municipal bodies are. They also face a problem in terms of lack of a dedicated municipal cadre that can bring economists, public policy graduates, environmentalists and engineers into city administrations.
While one of the key com ponents of the mission in ur ban areas is to create more public toilets, over three fourth of respondents in the online poll said the availabil ity of lavatories hasn't in creased in the one year. More than 70% of the respondents also pointed out how local municipal bodies are not seriously engaged in the scheme and driving the “cleanliness civic sense“ initiatives on the ground.
Considering that cities are competing with each other to get the Smart City tag, 88% of the respondents said that municipal bodies that implement Swachh Bharat mission effectively should be considered as the key parameter for this scheme.
Even an analysis of the cities and towns that have been shortlisted for three major urban development scheme shows how the common underlying concern is ensuring sanitation under all these programmes. Most of the urban areas have poor ranking as far as their Swachh Bharat rankings are concerned.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com
Swachh Bharat mission was launched by PM Modi on October 2 last year.
The poll has brought to light the gap in capacity of municipal bodies, primarily responsible for collection, transportation and treatment of waste in urban areas. According to the poll, 94% respondents felt civic bodies need major upgrade in skills, processes, equipment system and leadership. Some 96% felt municipal and city leaders should connect with citizens for the success of the mission. An online survey , which found 71% of respondents feel that PM Narendra Modi's ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission has been a flop in urban India, will help in planning the next course of action, a senior government official said on Thursday .
“Efforts are being made to sensitize the municipal authorities and we have been monitoring the progress. It's atime-taking programme. We are providing technical and financial assistance to urban local bodies to implement the scheme,“ the official added.
According to latest government data, 1.42 lakh tonne of solid waste was generated per day in urban areas in July and only 15.33 % of it was processed, indicating how under-equipped municipal bodies are. They also face a problem in terms of lack of a dedicated municipal cadre that can bring economists, public policy graduates, environmentalists and engineers into city administrations.
While one of the key com ponents of the mission in ur ban areas is to create more public toilets, over three fourth of respondents in the online poll said the availabil ity of lavatories hasn't in creased in the one year. More than 70% of the respondents also pointed out how local municipal bodies are not seriously engaged in the scheme and driving the “cleanliness civic sense“ initiatives on the ground.
Considering that cities are competing with each other to get the Smart City tag, 88% of the respondents said that municipal bodies that implement Swachh Bharat mission effectively should be considered as the key parameter for this scheme.
Even an analysis of the cities and towns that have been shortlisted for three major urban development scheme shows how the common underlying concern is ensuring sanitation under all these programmes. Most of the urban areas have poor ranking as far as their Swachh Bharat rankings are concerned.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com
Source: The Times of India, 18-09-2015
