National Swachh Survekshan Report: Mumbai emerges worst performer among eight cities in Maharashtra, Mira-Bhayandar cleanest

Swacch Survekshan is an annual survey that is carried out by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA). As part of this survey, several aspects of a city pertaining to solid waste management (SWM) are judged. The parameters include–door to door waste collection, source segregation, waste generation v/s processing, remediation of dumpsites, cleanliness of residential areas, markets, water bodies and public toilets.

The national rankings are categorised into five different categories that include–million plus cities, having a population of more than 10 lakh; big cities, those having population between 3 lakh and 10 lakh; medium cities, ones with population range of 50,000-3 lakh; small cities, having population strength between 20,000-50,000 people; and very small cities that have population under 20,000.

The million plus category includes all major cities and municipalities in the country and Mumbai occupied 33rd position in the list of 40. Ahmedabad (Gujarat) emerged as the cleanest city followed by Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).

“We lost the maximum marks in the categories of dumpsite remediation and overall processing of waste. We have already taken steps to mitigate these issues like bio remediation of dumpsites and construction of waste to energy plants, we are hopeful that the ranking will improve next year,” Kiran Dighavkar, deputy municipal commissioner told the Indian Express on Thursday.

The report card shows that Mumbai was given 40% for door-to-door waste collection this year. Last year, the city was given 97% in the same category. For dumpsite remediation, the city was given 16% marks, while last year the marks stood at 9%. For source segregation, 31% was given to Mumbai this year, while 65% was given last year to Mumbai. For waste processing, Mumbai earned 62%, when compared to 49% last year. This was followed by 50% marks given for cleanliness of public toilets which was 90% last year. Mumbai was given 92% for maintaining clean water bodies this year, while categories in cleanliness of residential and market areas were given 100% marks.

Meanwhile, six different cities of Maharashtra fared better than Mumbai in the million plus category including Pimpri Chinchwad which stood at the seventh position, followed by Pune at eighth position. Pimpri Chinchwad was also awarded as the promising Swacch Sheher of Maharashtra. Thane at the fifteenth position, Nashik at 22nd, Kalyan Dombivali in the 24th position, Chhatrapati Shambhaji Nagar at 25th, Vasai Virar in 29th position.

Further, the report shows that several satellite districts topped the rankings in different categories. For example, Mira-Bhayandar that falls in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) stood at the first position in the big cities category which included 95 cities across the country, while Panvel stood in the seventh position in this category while Maharashtra’s Karhad in Satara district stood second in the medium city category.