South Delhi jumps from 202 to 32 rank in nationwide cleanliness survey

South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has improved significantly in a nationwide cleanliness survey while New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has been adjudged India’s cleanest small city, according to a report released by the Union housing and urban affairs ministry on Saturday.

SDMC’s ranking in Swachh Survekshan-2018 rose to 32 from last year’s position of 202. Delhi Cantonment Board, which was ranked for the first time, took the top spot in the ‘Cantt’ category .

“From providing free access to the toilets in hotels and restaurants to constructing 164 community toilets, 34 public toilets, mechanising collection and transportation of the garbage and using dry leaves for composting in 6,820 parks, various steps were taken to improve the civic services in south Delhi,” SDMC commissioner Puneet Goel said.

He said short-term targets were set by members of the corporation, and weekly review meetings were organised to accelerate the pace of work.

Among 4,203 urban local bodies that were ranked in the survey, NDMC stood fourth, moving up three slots from its previous ranking. About 1.5% of Delhi’s 16.78 million residents live in the council limits that cover 2.2% of the Capital’s area.

The urban local bodies were surveyed between January and March and ranked under different categories based on their population.

All the cantonment boards, which are run by the Indian Army, were also included in the survey.

While North Delhi Municipal Corporation improved its last year’s position of 279 to 206, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) slipped from 196 to 341 in the rankings, the survey showed.

An official from North Delhi Municipal Corporation said regular public awareness camps, use of machines to improve sanitation in residential neighbourhoods and enhancing the capacity of construction and waste management plants helped the improved its performance.

EDMC blamed a lack of resources and poor funding for its slippage. “We are still struggling to find a new landfill site and are forced to dump garbage at the over-saturated Ghazipur landfill. We are finding it hard to pay staff salaries regularly and this has affected our sanitation services,” a senior official said on condition of anonymity.

Indore was declared the cleanest for the second year in a row followed by Bhopal and Chandigarh. The cities were ranked on the basis of their performance on six parameters of collection and transportation of municipal solid waste, their processing and disposal, sanitation-related progress, innovation and best practices.