Swachh Survekshan 2018: Maharashtra ranked cleanest state, WB fares poorly
Jharkhand is the cleanest state in the country, followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, the latest Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness study) by the Government of India has found. Among cities, Indore, Bhopal and Chandigarh took the top three spots. Mumbai is the cleanest capital city. West Bengal, with 19 of the 25 dirtiest cities, fared among the four dirtiest states, followed by Nagaland, Puducherry and Tripura.
About the survey
The first Swachh Survekshan was conducted in 2016 to assess cities based on their solid waste management practices. For the 2018 survey, over 2,700 assessors from Karvy Data Management Services Ltd visited 4,203 urban bodies in 66 days (January 4-March 10). They were scored under three main categories: municipal documentation, collection of data from direct observation, and collection of data from citizen feedback.
The top scorers in the survey
This time, Maharashtra got the highest number of awards - 10 out of 52 sections. Among cities, Chennai came last among the top 100. PM Narendra Modi's Varanasi fell from 32nd to 29th. In Gujarat, Ahmedabad was adjudged the cleanest. Bathinda, Punjab's cleanest city, was ranked 104th. In Delhi, the Lutyens' Zone, South Delhi and Cantt areas performed far better than North and East.
These local bodies scored alarmingly low
Among the 500 cities with a population of over 1L, Bhadreshwar in Gujarat scored the lowest. In WB, popular tourist cities like Darjeeling and Siliguri scored abysmally on most sanitation indicators, including waste collection and open defecation. Three cities each from Bihar and UP made up the 25 dirtiest cities. Bengaluru didn't even make it to the list.
Such data can only help if used to improve situation
Such data can help cities gauge their lacking and work on it to improve things, but it will only happen if they take the survey as a diagnostic tool. "Unfortunately, we have not been able to take the next step, to see to what degree our municipalities have the capacity and technology to process solid waste," said Yamini Aiyar, President, Centre for Policy Research.
