Indore was named the cleanest city in the country for the sixth time in a row, drawing praise from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
On Saturday, the CM and the state Congress unit president Kamal Nath expressed happiness at the state getting top position in the Centre's Swachh Survekshan survey. The results of Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022, the Union government's annual cleanliness survey were announced on Saturday. Indore was adjudged the cleanest city, followed by Surat and Navi Mumbai.
"Bagging the first place in best performing states in cleanliness was a huge achievement for MP. It is a matter of immense pride that Indore has been adjudged India's cleanest city for the sixth consecutive time," Chouhan said in a press statement.
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He also praised Indore for its waste collection and disposal mechanism, and hailed 'safai mitras' (sanitation workers), citizens, elected representatives and officials for their stellar performance at the cleanliness awards.
How Indore became the cleanest city in India
The processing of 1,900 tons of urban waste every day which earns it crores of rupees and also fuels its buses has helped Indore bag `India's cleanest city' award for the sixth straight time.
While segregation of garbage into `dry' and `wet' categories is common, in Indore segregation happens in six categories at a collection point.
The largest city of Madhya Pradesh with a population of 35 lakh, also known as the state's commercial capital, is garbage bin-free, even though it generates 1,200 tons of dry waste and 700 tons of wet waste daily.
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“We have 850 vehicles which collect waste from households and business establishments and segregate it into six categories," said Mahesh Sharma, cleanliness wing superintendent engineer of the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC).
The vehicles have separate compartments for different types of waste. Discarded sanitary napkins, for instance, go into a separate compartment.
This sorting at the initial stage of collection comes in handy for efficient processing, Sharma said.
The highlight of the IMC's waste disposal process is a bio-CNG plant which runs on the wet waste collected from the city. It is Asia's largest such facility, according to city officials.
On February 19 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated this 550 MT per day capacity plant worth Rs 150 crore at the Devguradia trenching ground.
It can generate 17,000 to 18,000 kg of Bio-CNG and 10 tons of organic manure. As many as 150 city buses are being run on this Bio-CNG which is Rs 5 cheaper than commercial CNG.
The IMC earned Rs 14.45 crore from waste disposal last fiscal, including Rs 8.5 crore from the sale of carbon credits in the international market and Rs 2.52 crore as annual premium from a private company for providing waste to the bio-CNG plant. In the current fiscal, the civic body hopes to earn Rs 20 crore from waste disposal, said Sharma.
As many as 8,500 safai mitras (sanitary workers) work in three shifts to keep Indore clean, he added. Sewage generated in the city too is treated at three special plants and reused at 200 public gardens, farms and for construction activities, said horticulture officer Chetan Patil.
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Who are the other winners of Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022?
Among the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022 winners announced during the day, MP was followed by Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra as the best performing states, while the list of cleanest cities had Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra in second and third place, respectively.
What is the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022
The Survekshan has evolved from being an assessment of 73 cities in 2016 to covering 4,354 cities this year, including 91 Ganga towns and 62 cantonment zones). The assessment was conducted in three phases in July-August, September-October and November 2021 to January 2022. The awards were given away by President Droupadi Murmu in an event in New Delhi.
