Mumbai: BMC wants to buy its way into Top 3 Swachhta ranking

The civic body has decided to resort to an ageold technique to get the city back on track in its Swachh Survekshan ranking After plummeting 31 spots to No 49 on the list this year a desperate Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has decided to offer rewards of up to Rs 2485 crore to corporators and NGOs who get top points on the Swachh parameters a civic official told middayThe ward that stands second in each zone will win Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh will be awarded to the third ranking ward In addition the civic body will also give Rs 50 lakh to an NGO and Rs 50 lakh to eminent personalities working to keep their respective wards clean Swachh Survekshan has become a point of selfesteem for cities ever since it was first introduced in 2014 It is usually announced around March after surveying citiesvillages in the first two months of the yearAlso ReadMumbai BMC approves proposal to uproot 2646 trees in AareyMumbai has fallen drastically in the cleanliness ranking since last yearWhile Navi Mumbai improved its rank by two spots climbing to the seventh in 2019 and MiraBhayandar jumped to 27 from 47 Mumbai dropped its rank to 49 from 18 in 2018 Solid Waste management officers of the civic body believe that the major reason for this degradation was the lack of peoples participation and citizens feedback along with the lax implementation of initiatives like 100 per cent segregation of waste waste processing compelling all bulk generators to process their waste 100 per cent sewerage network and closure of all dumping grounds The BMC also did not collect a user fee from citizens for solid waste management This was also one of the reasons its rank droppedAlso ReadMumbai BMCs part of Bal Thackeray bridge extension will be cablestayedCitizen participationThe civic body now wants to improve its rank through people participation and stronger solid waste management by involving corporators and NGOs The BMC will shower a total of R2485 crore as prize money on the corporators and NGOs doing the best towards achieving the BMCs goals We are planning to announce awards for corporators and NGOs who help to keep the city clean through direct participation or by creating awareness It will enhance peoples participation which is expected in Swachh Survekshan said Ashok Khaire deputy municipal commissioner of the Solid Waste Management departmentThe civic body aims to encourage citizens participation in keeping the city clean through this initiativeNo cash rewardsThe awards will be given after the next Swachh Survekshan rankings are announced and the award money is supposed to be utilised in a time frame of one year The prize money will not directly go to the account of the corporator or the NGO but the municipal corporation will enable a machinery to use the prize money for initiatives like composting units toilets constructionrepair etc The criteria for the cleanliness award havent been finalised yet But it will include criteria that are similar to those of the Swachh Survekshan rankings waste segregation zero waste cleanliness on roads no littering use of toilets environmentfriendly initiatives etcTransparency mustCorporators welcomed the move albeit with caution It is a good thing but it should be done in a proper transparent manner Otherwise only some big corporators will bag the awards said Asif Zakaria Bandra corporator Some wards are more developed and already have public participation while others are less developed So work in all wards cant be measured with the same criteria he said Activist James John however was slightly skeptical of the move It is an obligatory duty of the BMC to clean the roads collect garbage daily supply clean water and take action against encroachment It should first look into its own house While awards are good for the encouragement it is like giving students awards while teachers are not doing their job said the member of NGO AGNI Action for Good Governance and Networking in India Lets instead award wards without illegal hoardings and unauthorised structures the activist addedLax solid waste management is one of the reasons behind the low ranking on the Swacch Survenkshan list the BMC claimed7No of zones in the city227No of wards in cityReward amountRs 1 crore Prize amount for cleanest ward in each zoneRs 50 lakh Prize amount for second cleanest ward in each zoneRs 25 lakh Prize amount for third cleanest ward in each zoneRs 10 lakh Consolation prize amount for three winners in each zoneRs 50 lakh First prize amount to NGO helping keep the ward cleanRs 25 lakh Second prize amount to NGO helping keep the ward cleanRs 10 lakh Third prize amount to NGO helping keep the ward cleanRs 5 lakh Consolation prize amount for three NGO winners in each zoneRs 50 lakh Prize amount for eminent personalities helping cleanliness in each wardCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates