Mumbai (The Hindu): Swachh Sarvekshan 2015 had placed city at 147 on the list. Sanitation, education, solid waste management help giant leap in rankings.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has emerged as the best performer among mega cities for its initiative in the Swachh Sarvekshan — a national survey of sanitation initiatives — even as Mysuru bagged overall best performing city honours.

Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Monday presented trophies and mementos to 15 cities after announcing the Swachh Sarvekshan results. Mumbai’s Deputy Mayor Alka Kerkar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr Pallavi Darade, and Deputy Commissioner Prakash Patil accepted the award from Mr Naidu at a function held at the National Media Centre in New Delhi.

Mumbai was ranked 10th overall among all cities and has dramatically improved its ranking from 147 last year to be among the top 10, civic officials said. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation bagged ‘Top Mover in West Zone’ award while the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation was adjudged the best performer among satellite cities.

Chandigarh, Vishakhapatnam, Surat were adjudged best performers in the north, south and west zones, while the New Delhi Municipal Council was adjudged best performer among Smart Cities and best in service level status. Gangtok was the best performer in the northeast and among state capitals as well.

Allahabad, Nagpur, Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneshwar, and Imphal won awards for ‘Top Mover’ in north, west, south, east and northeast zones.

Mr Naidu also announced that 500 cities, each with a population of one lakh and above, will be surveyed for cleanliness every year and a rolling trophy will be presented to the best performer. States will also be advised to rank cities so as to honour the best performing city, and each urban local body will similarly identify the best ward in terms of sanitation.

The Quality Council of India had been commissioned to conduct the Swachh Sarvekshan and rank 75 cities on their sanitation and cleanliness. The survey began on January 5, covering all state capitals and 52 cities with populations of one million.

A team of 110 assessors visited municipal offices and 42 other locations including planned colonies, public toilets, bus stands, railway stations, religious places and graded cleanliness. Photographs of these locations were geo-tagged, loaded on tablets and sent in real time to a central control room. Apart from data from municipal offices, direct observation by surveyors and citizens’ feedback were used in the survey.

The survey evaluated six aspects of sanitation and hygiene including strategies for tackling open defecation and integrated solid waste management, efforts for education and behavioural change, methods for sweeping and door-to-door collection and transportation, processing and disposal of solid waste, provision of public and community toilet seats and construction of household individual toilets.

Photo credit: The Hindu