Of late, tech hub of Bengaluru has been in news for all the wrong reasons. If the heaviest of rains in the recent past drowned the city's eastern parts that houses some of the world's leading software companies, the latest ranking of ‘clean cities' in the country by the union government has come as a huge dampener to the Karnataka capital that desperately seeks to come out of a string of setbacks.
The 2022 Swachh Survekshan, the largest sanitation/cleanliness survey in the world conducted by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, put Bengaluru at the bottom—43rd out of a total of 45 cities having a population of more than 10 lakh. This was a steep fall from the previous years—the Silicon City of India was ranked 28 out of 48 in 2021 during which year it even bagged the ‘fastest mover mega city' award. The 2021 ranking was an improvement over its 2020 performance when it secured 37th position.
A government statement said the Swachh survey was launched “as an assessment tool to analyse and compare the status of sanitation of Indian cities under the Swachh Bharat Mission”. It added that as against only 73 cities where the survey was conducted when the mission started in 2016, it now covered 4,354 cities in 2022.
What were the indicators which were the foundation for the survey? The indicators included waste source segregation and its proper disposal, availability of adequate processing plants, creation of sanitary landfills, increased people's participation, upliftment of social conditions of informal waste pickers, usage of machines and minimizing human intervention for liquid waste management, etc.
If Bengaluru, which contributes a substantial portion of the country's $227-billion software revenue, is crestfallen over its Swachh ranking, northern city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh is basking in its glory—for the sixth successive time, it has been adjudged the cleanest city in the country. Surat in Gujarat is the second cleanest followed by Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. Heritage city of Mysuru sort of saved some embarrassment for Karnataka as it was ranked cleanest medium city (three to 10 lakh population category).
So, why is Bengaluru, that is historically known for its gardens, lakes and comforting weather, performing so miserably when it comes to its cleanliness, not to speak of its infrastructure, traffic, haphazard growth, urban planning etc.?
As regards cleanliness, garbage dumps and waste strewn all around are an eyesore in the city thanks to which it earned the infamous “garbage city” tag as against the “garden city” sobriquet it had secured over the decades. According to one estimate, the city has over 1,000 such blackspots with tonnes of uncleared garbage. The city, with over one crore population, produces some 6,000 metric tonnes of waste per day.
Waste disposal is a huge issue. There are seven waste-to-energy plants around the city to clear the garbage but most of them do not work all the time. This leads to garbage mounts in the large dumping grounds making them a health hazard. The current budgetary allocation for the solid waste management (SWM) of the city is Rs 1500 crore but it is anybody's guess as to how this money gets utilised. The free-run of the `garbage mafia' nullifies any reforms that may be initiated in the collection, transport and disposal of garbage, those in the know, say.
Infosys' former director Mohandas Pai, who actively comments on the city infrastructure, has lashed out at the city's Swachh ranking. “A big shame,” he tweeted, tagging Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and others. “Our MLAs and MPs have failed us, many MLAs are corrupt,” his tweet says. Pai had recently met Bommai after Bengaluru's image as a Silicon Valley of India took a hit following floods. Having large following on twitter, his reaction on ranking garnered huge support on social media.
Bengaluru is a city that is seen as a victim of its own success. It was not long ago that the media splashed photos of lakes spewing toxic and foam that stretched to the roads nearby, especially at Bellandur in south-east Bengaluru. “With these and more, will any city, let alone Bengaluru, make it to the `Top 10' of clean cities?”, a resident asked. Incidentally, Bengaluru, which depended on its many lakes for drinking water and other activities, has no water source in around 100 km radius.
Which are the categories where Bengaluru performed badly and needs to tighten its belt? Among the parameters taken into account by the survey, the city performed worst in the ‘cleanliness of public toilets' category where its score was less than 25%, besides ‘citizens' grievance redressal' (25 to 50%). It performed better in `cleanliness of drains' (50 to 75%). Its improved performance (75 to 90%) was under ‘cleanliness of roads', ‘water bodies', and ‘city beautification' while its best performance (90% and above) was under the categories of ‘segregated door to door waste collection', ‘cleanliness of market areas', ‘daily sweeping residential areas', ‘cleanliness of residential areas', and ‘non-availability of open garbage dumps'.
Bengaluru city. (Photo: Karnataka Tourism-Incredible India website)
“We will look into this ranking in detail”, remarked Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath. He attributes low ranking to delay in submitting the needy data to a dispute between the consultant appointed by the centeral government and the BBMP.
According to Harish Kumar, BBMP's Special Commissioner (SWM), citizen participation in the survey was less last year but it improved this year. He says it was not proper or fair to compare a mega city like Bengaluru with smaller cities as the challenges and problems faced are different. The state capital, having a population of over one crore, was slotted in the category of cities with population of over 10 lakh.
The BBMP did not meet the criteria on Garbage Free Cities certificate and Water Plus (treatment of sewage and re-use of wastewater), and hence, did not apply for the certification. Because of this, it lost out 2,250 points. “The garbage-free city certification demands better management of construction and demolition waste and such other categories where we lag behind,” Kumar was quoted in Deccan Herald.
Thus, it is clear that Bengaluru has a long way to go to come into the reckoning of clean cities. To clinch improvement and move up in the performance ladder, it needs to move in a constructive manner on many fronts, in the categories mentioned above. That needs commitment, hard work, proper planning and implementation.
BS Arun is a senior journalist based in Bengaluru.
The views expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of BQ Prime or its editorial team.
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