Swachh ka saamna: Navi Mumbai beats Mumbai in all-India cleanliness indicators

Mumbai ranked 37 out of the 48 cities surveyed across the country in the latest Swachh Survekshan or Clean Survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Navi Mumbai fared better finishing as the fourth cleanest city after Indore Surat and Vijayawada While the financial capital slipped two ranks from last year it secured the top position in innovation and best practices in the category of waste managementWasted opportunitiesMulund Dumping Ground Photo Midday File picMumbairsquos continuing garbage problem has hurt its performance According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporationrsquos BMC latest Environment Status Report ESR the approximate quantity of solid waste generated in Mumbai is over 65006800 metric tonnes per day According to the civic bodyrsquos report the cityrsquos major dumping grounds at Deonar Karjat and Mulund are nearly exhausting their capacitiesThe work of recovering the Mulund Dumping Ground by processing existing waste is underway and the BMC has missed several deadlines to complete the work at the site Spread over 24 hectares the Mulund dump yard had been in use since 1967 Midday reported in early November that the work at Mulund dumping ground hasnrsquot gathered the required momentum due to multiple issues including the issue of management of ash shortage of manpower due to lockdown and the monsoon among othersA community toilet being constructed at Govandi Photo Midday File PicThe civic bodyrsquos ESR report states that Mumbai was declared open defecation free ODF in 2017 but where does the city stand now It scored 300 out of 700 marks in ODF status while Navi Mumbai and Thane scored 1600 and 1100 out of 1800 respectively in the same category As per a Midday report last June an RTI filed by Praja Foundation revealed that while the BMC cleared proposals worth Rs 422 crore in January 2019 for 22774 toilets with a target to build them in a year it managed to construct only about 20 per cent of them after two years The report stated that the civic body did not build a single community toilet in 2020 citing pandemic management as one of the reasons for not meeting the targetPlans and projects afootIn the months following the lockdown and in the run up to the civic body elections the BMC has been actively focusing on building the infrastructure for waste management and on decentralising the waste management process including community participation Recently the Minister of Environment and Tourism Aditya Thackeray inaugurated an organic wastetoenergy processing centre in lsquoDrsquo ward The centre is developed by AeroCare Clean Energy and will process wet waste which is essentially food waste and convert it to electricity which will be used by the civic authorities for public lighting in the areasThe outside of the wastetoenergy processing centre in D ward Photo Midday file picIn the latest Swachh Survekshan Survey however Mumbai scored zero in garbagefree status despite having applied for a fivestar ranking this year Last year too the city did not get any marks out of 1100 for a garbagefree status GFS Over the years the BMC has introduced several waste collection methods focusing on doortodoor segregation of dry and wet waste According to the ESR the current segregation percentage of Mumbai is around 82 percentIn August 2021 under its lsquoVision 2030rsquo project the BMC launched a citizensrsquo survey seeking responses on proposed reforms and ideas on waste segregation and management which will help the city develop a roadmap for the next 10 years The objective is to make Mumbai the cleanest global city by 2030Also Read As Tripura cracks down on journalists in what shape is media freedom in India