Hyderabad: Hyderabad was ranked India’s best capital city for solid waste management by the Swachh Survekshan 2018 survey. Siddipet, the Assembly constituency of TS irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, was rated the cleanest town in the south.
Under the category of cities with more than 10 lakh population, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh stood as India’s cleanest big city and Tirupati was rated the best city in solid waste management among those with population between 1 lakh and 3 lakh.
Asked what went into making Hyderabad the best in terms of solid waste management, GHMC chief Dr B. Janardhan Reddy said it was because of the removal of 1,116 vulnerable garbage points, introduction of Swachh Dhoot volunteers.
The ‘know your workers; scheme, the anti-mosquito mobile app and SHE toilets built under corporate social responsibility had helped the city secure the top rank in the category.
He said, 2,157 women from the weaker sector were employed, who reached out to 13 lakh households to educate citizens on waste segregation. With the help of 5 lakh students, resident welfare associations, schools and markets were briefed on a monthly reward if they maintained sanitation. Schemes like the Rs1 lakh reward for waste segregation through a lucky draw proved beneficial, Dr Janardhan Reddy said.
The results for Swachh Survekshan 2018, a pan-India survey aimed to estimate the cleanliness of urban local bodies, was announced on Wednesday by the Union minister of state housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. The 4,203 cities were ranked on a scale of 4,000 marks.
There were assessed on progress in open defecation free (ODF) programme, collection, transportation and processing of solid waste. The results also involved data submitted by civic bodies on cleanliness and sanitation, as well as feedback from the citizens.
The ministry said, “While deciding the awards, it has been kept in mind that one city gets only one award i.e the category in which it has performed the best. In case a city has already been awarded in some category, next best is awarded in the other category.”
