Mumbai: In a bid to nurture a cleaner city, the BMC will hold cleanliness competitions among 24 civic wards and award the cleanest ward at the end of the month. The competitions will be led by the respective corporators and civic officials, and selection will be carried out by the solid waste management (SWM) department.
The wards will be judged on parameters, including the cleanliness of roads, nullahs, schools, hospitals, offices etc. The initiative has been taken on the lines of the national cleanliness survey, Swachh Sarvekshan, under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, wherein Mumbai’s ranking has dropped from 18th place last year to 49th place in 2019.
“We have got the approval from the municipal commissioner. We have to start the competitions before December as the Swachh Sarvekshan for 2020 will be carried out in January. The Centre also considers cleanliness in the city in the last quarter,” said deputy municipal commissioner (SWM), Ashok Khaire. The competitions will encourage citizens to keep their respective areas clean.
“Mumbai’s ranking in the Swachh Sarvekshan for 2019 dipped as there was no ‘garbage cess’ levied on users. Mumbai is the only city where charges for the SWM service are not collected. We are also working on the parameters to levy the charges,” Mr Khaire added.
As per municipal solid waste management rules, 2016, the civic body has to levy a ‘user fee’ on waste generators to cover the cost of door-to-door garbage collection, transportation and disposal. The BMC, in its 2019-20 budget, laid emphasis on centrally promoted sanitation campaigns like the Swachh Bharat Mission. Also on the BMC’s cleanliness radar is waste management on beaches that are visited by lakhs of people every day.
Last year a contractor was appointed to keep Juhu, Chimbai and Waring-pada beaches clean. Inspired by the success there, BMC has decided to appoint similar contractors at Mahim and Dadar beaches.
