HYDERABAD: This year the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) could not find a place in the national level awards category given to capital cities in Swachh Survekshan 2019. Last year, GHMC was awarded Best Capital City in Solid Waste Management (SWM) category.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) has been awarding five best capital cities across the country - Cleanest State capital city, Fastest moving State capital city, Best State capital city in ‘Citizens Feedback’, Best State capital city in ‘Innovation and Best Practices’ and Best State capital city in Solid Waste Management. However, this year Hyderabad did not find a place in any of these categories.
Whether Hyderabad will improve its Swachh Ranking over the previous year will be known on Wednesday when the results Swachh Survekashan 2019, as well as the ranking of cities, will formally be declared. President Ram Nath Kovind along with Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri will present SS-2019 awards on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.
In SS-2018 ranking, Hyderabad city slipped to the 27th place among 4,203 including 61 Cantonment Boards. In SS-2017, city ranked 22 among 434 cities, while in SS-2016, city was ranked 19 out of 75 cities.
The only solace for Telangana State is that four Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) Siddipet, Sircilla, Boduppal and Peerzadiguda have bagged four SS-2019 awards in different categories. Awards for two cities namely Siddipet and Sircilla will be given, while SS-2019 citations will be given to Boduppal and Peerzadiguda.
‘’We have not received any intimation from MoHUA about any awards to Hyderabad city till Monday making it clear that the city is not listed for any of the national awards. In SS-2018 GHMC bagged best capital city in SWM category’’ GHMC senior officials told Express.