VISAKHAPATNAM: Visakhapatnam city secured second place, only after South Delhi, in the ‘citizen feedback’ category of Swachh Survekshan-2022 survey. Terming it a ‘good show’, officials pointed out that some technical glitches in the network hampered the city’s performance during the last two days.
Among the top 15 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with a population of over 10 lakh, South Delhi led the tally with 4,19,977 citizen feedbacks and Vizag stood second with 3,74,074 feedbacks.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has been conducting Swachh Survekshan since 2016. It is the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey. Its primary goal is to encourage large-scale citizen participation and create awareness among all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities better places to reside in.
Speaking to TNIE, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation chief medical officer (CMOH) KSLG Sastry said the city has performed very well in the citizen feedback category. “While the city is better placed this time, there is scope for improvement. The end result depends on the garbage-free city certification,” he added.
Referring to the technical glitches, the CMOH said, “most of the citizens did not get an OTP and those who did, could not submit the feedback due to server issues.” Stating that most of the citizens submitted feedback through Swachhta App, he said, “if these would have been taken into account we could have performed better.”
Cities ranked based on solid waste mgmt
Stating that the technical snags only added to their woes, the CMOH remarked, “if not for them the city might have created a record by surpassing Delhi’s score.” He noted that since the launch of the Swachh Survekshan in 2016, there has been a huge jump in citizen participation. It has created more awareness among people about hygiene in the city, the CMOH said.
Cities are ranked based on municipal solid waste management. Besides, open defecation-free zones and toilets are also considered. The total marks awarded under these parameters are 7,500. Stating that the city secured ninth place last year, Sastry said they are hopeful of performing better this time as the Jindal waste to energy plant will begin operating from this year.
The Safai Suraksha challenge and garbage-free city certification are pending. The survey is likely to be over by the month-end and the rankings will be announced after three months. Pointing out that the cleanest city, Indore, was lagging behind, he said Vizag’s natural beauty has helped it secure a better rank.