Hyderabad drops 3 ranks but cleanest metro

Hyderabad: The GHMC was aiming at a high rank in the Swachh Survekshan survey but slipped three positions to stand at 22 out of 434 cities. Last year, the city was ranked 19 out of 75 cities.

There was consolation, with Hyderabad emerging as the cleanest of all metropolitan cities. While the GHMC got 1,605 marks, New Delhi got 1,118, Bengaluru 968 and Chennai 916. AP performed well, with Vizag ranked third and Tirupati ninth.

The city scored 1,605 points out of 2,000, losing out due to lack of public toilets, poor citizen’s feedback and Quality Council of India assessments.

GHMC Commissioner Dr. B. Janardhan Reddy said, “Bigger cities have bigger problems. Hyderabad, with a population of over 1.3 crore, should not be compared to cities with a population of a few lakhs. Mysuru, with 8 lakh population, was ranked 5th.” He said the GHMC had sought categorising cities by size.

Cold response, lack of toilets hit GHMC
“From 275 among 476 cities in 2015, to 22 among 434 cities in 2017, this is a huge jump,” GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy said.

He added, “We mainly lost in public toilets, because the process of building toilets began in 2015. The municipal corporation faces a difficult task in constructing toilets due to various reasons like land availability and resistance from locals. There are over 200 huts near Osmania University and there is a tiff with residents over construction of toilets. Secondly, citizens have given a fair feedback pertaining to conditions and lastly we lost out on the presentation of the Municipal Corporation. But, in the rest of the parameters, GHMC scored high.”

Of the total 2,000 marks, GHMC scored 1,605 points, lost 395 points. Major points were lost due to open defecation and lack of toilets: Scored 130 out of 300 (lost 170 points)

Documentation (representation of Greater Hyderabad made before the quality control team): Scored 734 out of 900 (lost 166 points).  Through citizens' feedback, Hyderabad lost 59 points.

Data was collected for the Swachh Survekshan rankings through direct observations of members of the Quality Control of India and independent assessments, which carried 500 marks. Available data with the urban local bodies carried 900 marks. Citizens' feedback was given 600 marks, for a cumulative total of 2,000 marks.

Municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao tweeted: “In the Swachh Survekshan survey 2017 ranking, Hyderabad stood 1st among big metro cities.” In his second tweet, he said: “Last year we were 19 among 75 cities. The year before, we were 274 among 500 cities. Nevertheless, there is huge scope for improvement in all towns.”

GHMC officials had asked residents to vote for the corporation in the survey. However constructive feedback on the state of sanitation and cleanliness in the city, got the corporation low points.

The major drawback was construction of toilets. So far, 3,300 toilets have been constructed in GHMC limits, including 200 new ones in commercial areas. Of the GHMC’s 150 divisions, 118 are free of open defecation, but that was not enough. The city lost points on that score.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the 10 top cities selected in terms of cleanliness and said the  competition among the cities for becoming cleaner augured well for the country.

“Congratulations to the top 10 cities,” he tweeted while referring to the Swachh Survekshan rankings released earlier in the day which showed Indore in Madhya Pradesh as the cleanest city in the country and Gonda in Uttar Pradesh as the dirtiest.

“#SwachhSurvekshan2017 offers an extensive picture on where our cities stand on cleanliness and the roadmap ahead,” Mr Modi said in another tweet.

The urban development ministry had commissioned the survey for 434 cities and towns with a population of 1 lakh and above in January and February this year. Overall, Rs 37 lakh people responded to a set of six questions about the city they belonged.

The 434 cities account for about 60 per cent of the total urban population in the country. The response of 18 lakh people was taken into consideration for the survey.

Officials behind the assessment
The survey was carried out by the Quality Council of India, which deployed 421 assessors in 17,500 locations in 434 cities and towns. Another 55 people monitored the process.

The weightages for different components of the survey were: a) Solid waste management like door-to-door collection, processing, and disposal, open defecation free status etc. These carried 45 per cent of the 2,000 marks. b) Citizen feedback – 30 per cent. c) Observation – 25 pc.