After spending Rs 5.5 crore per month (Rs 18.33 lakh per day) on the sanitation system, the City Beautiful has slipped from the second rank in 2016 to the 11th in the Swachh Survekshan-2017.
The results of the survey were announced in New Delhi today by Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu. While the Mayor, the MC Commissioner and other officials claimed that the citizen feedback was the main reason for the slip in the ranking, it has raised questions over the MC’s mechanised night sweeping project.
Under the project, the contract was allotted to a Delhi-based firm, Lions Services Ltd, for mechanised sweeping of southern sectors (18 to 21, 32, 40 to 45 and 51) in the city. The MC is paying around Rs 4.26 crore per month to the private company. The MC is paying around Rs 1.30 crore for the cleanliness of northern sectors for manual sweeping.
The same firm is carrying out the same project in Mohali, which ranked 121st in the cleanliness survey.
Swachh Survekshan-2017, commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development during January-February 2017, aimed at capturing the improvement in the sanitation scenario, primarily based on making cities and towns open defecation-free and improvement in processing of municipal solid waste.
Officials blame citizens
MC officials said they had put in their best and scored good marks in the categories where they showcased their work. However, city residents did not participate properly in the survey and there was less feedback by residents, which hit the city’s ranking badly.
MC’s mechanised sweeping
Under the project, the contract was allotted to a Delhi-based firm, Lions Services Ltd, for mechanised sweeping of southern sectors (18 to 21, 32, 40 to 45 and 51) in the city. The MC is paying around Rs 4.26 crore per month to the private company.
Officials did their best
Facilities such as mobile toilets were provided. Officials did their best. Had residents come forward for the survey, the position would have been better. — Asha Jaswal, Mayor
Poor response from residents
The MC has done its best and even scored highest marks in two categories. It was residents’ poor response that resulted in the slip. — B Purushartha, MC Commissioner
Congress demands probe
The Congress demands a probe into the contract to a private firm for mechanised sweeping. — Pardeep Chhabra, Cong President
Negligence of MC
It shows the negligence of the MC. If the city cannot score good marks even after having around 4,000 safai karamcharis and mechanised sweeping, it is a serious failure. — Davinder Babla, Congress councillor
Cleanliness has improved
Cleanliness in the city has improved over last year, but at the same time other cities have also improved. — Sanjay Tandon, Chandigarh BJP president