Bengaluru slips to 125th in Swachh ranking
BENGALURU: Bengaluru ranks 125th in the all-India Swachh Survekshan 2023 report released on Wednesday in New Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. In all, 446 cities participated in the competition of cities with a population of above one lakh. In the Swachh Survekshan ranking of 2022, the city ranked 43rd, in 2021, 28th, and in 2020, 37th.
According to the Swachh Survekshan 2023 report, of the 25 cities in the category of one lakh and above population in Karnataka, BBMP stands third. The first and second positions are bagged by Mysuru and Hubballi-Dharwad.
As per the report, Bengaluru scored 99% in the category of segregation of waste at source, but scored a ZERO in remediation of dumpsites. The city scored 2805.32 marks out of 4830 in the service level progress category, 1125 out of 2500 in the certification category and 1589.82 of 2170 in the citizens voice category.
The BBMP officials reasoned that this year, the union government changed the categories. “Earlier all cities, even those with one million population, were clubbed together, under the above one lakh population category. After a tussle with the union government, the classification was changed. Thus last year, BBMP ranked better.
This year, they have again gone back to the old format and hence, we rank low,” BBMP Special Commissioner (solid waste management), Harish Kumar, told The New Indian Express.“BBMP’s performance is on a higher side in the state and national average marks except star rating in the garbage free category. BBMP has upgraded from the open defecation free (ODF)++ to Water Plus City in the certification parameter. This is remarkable. We have also done well in liquid waste management. There is also a 30% jump in the citizens voice category from 43% last year.”
Kumar added that now liquid waste management is being targeted. The state government is also working on setting up processing plants and is working towards taking the city to international standards.
However, experts are not pleased. They not just question the method of assessment but the work done by BBMP.Malini Parmar from Solid Waste Management Round Table said, “Bengaluru has the most active citizen groups. We all know what needs to be done. But there is no intent. We have the bylaws, there is also an online system in place. There are rules, but there is no political leadership. The ban on plastic bags was successful because of political leadership.”