Hyderabad: The GHMC has got the Herculean task of securing top spot in the Swachh Survekshan ranking. The latest SS guidelines stipulate that the civic body has to not only keep Hyderabad clean but also beautify the city with vertical gardens, wall paintings, plantations and scrap arts.
The corporation must show before/after pictorial evidence to the certified environmental specialist to attain the 1,000 marks and a seven-star rating.
The beautification must be of different locations - slums, wards and circles.
The city slipped seven places in Swachh Survekshan 2018 and has a lot of catching up to do in 2019, competing with 4,500 urban local bodies and municipal corporations across the country.
The GHMC did not do so well when it came to citizens’ feedback in 2018. As many as 1,400 marks were set aside for citizens’ feedback and Hyderabad scored 942. The municipal self declaration category was also removed, wherein municipalities could declare the city as open defecation free. On this parameter Hyderabad was ranked 22 out of 434 cities and towns across the country. The city was awarded an overall score of 1,605 out of 2,000 based on the marks received in the categories of citizen feedback, municipal self declaration and on-site observation.
In 2018, Hyderabad secured 3,092 marks out of 4,000 and stood 27th, competing with 385 other cities in India. Hyderabad got 973 marks out of 1,400 in ‘service level progress’, and 1,177 out of 1,200 in direct observation. For 2019, the total marks have been increased to 5,000. That includes 1,250 marks for certification, 1,250 for citizens’ feedback, 1,250 through direct observation and 1,250 marks based on service level progress.
A senior GHMC official said sanitation and beautification would be key during Swachh Survekshan 2019.
He said that a certified environmentalist will be appointed by either the Centre or the state government to supervise the beautification process which includes junction beautification, vertical gardens for city flyovers, plantation activities in slums and by-lanes, wards and circles, and wall paintings at all important locations. After inspecting the above parameters the environmentalist will certify and provide the ratings.
"Certification will be a key factor to obtain seven-star rating to make it to the top slot. Instructions have been issued to prepare an action plan for overall development of basic minimum facilities at schools and to ensure proper cleanliness on all the main roads, beautification of the city, with a special focus on citizens’ feedback to achieve top rank in the Swachh Survekshan," he said.
The GHMC official further said that as far as sanitation is concerned the corporation has to sweep twice a day in commercial areas and once in residential areas. Civic staff must ensure door-to-door garbage collection, segregation at source and on-site compost units in all commercial establishments which produce 100 kg bulk garbage.
User charges must be collected from residents, violators must be penalised and grievances must be addressed in time through the MYGHMC App. Litter bins in commercial areas, banning plastic below 50 microns and no solid waste dumped in nalas and storm water drains are other requirements.
The official said that the corporation will campaign extensively through all media and erect hoardings at all important locations to get its message across. It’s difficult to see how this will help and how erecting hoardings will further the cause of beautifying the city when it is known to be one of the things guaranteed to make a city look ugly.
The awareness campaigns will begin only after Dec. 12 once the model code of conduct in no longer in effect. "Huge numbers of works have to be taken up well in advance as per the instructions received from the Swachh Survekshan authorities, although the dates are from Jan. 4 to Mar 31, 2019," he added.
