Monday Musing
[M Doley]
It seems that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, launched 10 years ago, has hardly been able to make any impact in Arunachal Pradesh, as the state has been ranked at rock-bottom in the list of the 27 states in the Swachch Survekshan, 2023.
The state’s capital city, Itanagar, has been ranked 431st in the list of 446 cities (with more than one lakh population) that were judged for their cleanliness performances during the year.
Arunachal has performed poorly in the parameters of public toilets, door-to-door collection of waste, segregation of waste at source, and processing.
The state’s performance in the door-to-door collection of waste was 35.81 per cent, while the source segregation and processing were 3.61 per cent and zero per cent, respectively.
As per the city report card, which was released on Thursday, the door-to-door collection of waste in Itanagar was 68 per cent. In contrast, the source segregation was only 1 per cent. There was 79 per cent cleanliness of residential areas, 79 per cent cleanliness of market areas and 25 per cent cleanliness of public toilets.
In the case of Naharlagun, the door-to-door collection of waste was 46 per cent, whereas source segregation was 50 per cent, cleanliness of public toilets 0 per cent, and cleanliness of water bodies 19 per cent. Cleanliness of residential and market areas in the township were 58 per cent and 57 per cent, respectively.
While Jairampur in Changlang district was declared the cleanest city in the state, followed by Aalo in West Siang district at second place, Sangram (45th rank) in Kurung Kumey district found itself at the rock bottom in the list.
The door-to-door collection of waste in Jairampur was 91 per cent, while cleanliness of residential and market areas were per cent and 43 per cent, respectively.
Aalo had an impressive performance with 100 per cent records in the cleanliness of residential and market areas and cleanliness of water bodies.
It is pertinent to mention that, not a single capital city of the eight northeastern states could even make it to the top 100.
Arunachal, known for its stunning natural beauty and tourist hotspots, should have fared better than other states. But the poor performance by the state in the survey is definitely a big setback for the state.
While it is the duty of the local bodies to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in their respective places, the citizens have a greater role to play in keeping their towns and cities clean.
They can help in maintaining cleanliness by not throwing garbage here and there, and by segregating waste at source. They can also help keep the public places clean and hygienic by avoiding the nauseating habit of spitting gutkha, pan masala, tobacco, etc, on the corners of walls, on roads and buildings, and by not urinating on the roadsides, backyards and isolated public places.
Apart from these, there are garbage vulnerable points in various locations in the capital city, where garbage gets piled up because of constant dumping of waste materials by the local residents, travellers or passersby. It is often observed that garbage in these points are not cleared on Sundays, which creates an unhygienic atmosphere in the surrounding areas.
Single-use plastics are still widely used in the city, despite a ban order. The authorities must work towards discouraging the citizens from using single-use plastics, considering the environmental degradation caused by them.
The key objectives of the Swachh Survekshan, an annual urban sanitation survey conducted by the ministry of housing & urban affairs, are to encourage large-scale citizens’ participation and create awareness about the importance of cleanliness, foster healthy competition among cities to improve their performance on sanitation parameters, among other things.
