Swachh Bharat mission is working, claims govt survey

Sanitation and cleanliness have largely improved in many cities and towns, indicating that the Swachh Bharat mission has had a positive impact, a government-commissioned sample survey has stated.

The survey, commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development during January this year, stated that 82 per cent of the people reported improvement in sanitation infrastructure and services like increased availability of litter bins and door-to-door collection of solid waste, while 80 per cent of the respondents said access to community and public toilets have improved substantially.

The two-month long survey, which took into consideration the responses of 18 lakh citizens on a set of six questions, stressed, however, on making community and public toilets more gender, children and differently-abled friendly.

Last year, 73 cities with a population of 10 lakh were ranked in Swachh Survekshan, which covered about 500 cities this time.

As many as 421 assessors of Quality Council of India, which carried out the survey, have physically inspected 17,500 locations in 434 cities and towns.

A total of 2,680 residential locations, 2,680 commercial locations and 2,582 commercial and public toilets were inspected in these cities and towns for on-the-spot third-party assessment of ground level assessment of sanitation.

Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu tweeted, "Survey results are very encouraging. Revealed major improvement in cleanliness in last one year. Swachh Bharat buzz is reflecting on ground (sic)."

He also revealed that the Swachh Survekshan-2017 rankings of 434 cities and towns will be announced on Thursday.

The survey also mentioned that in 185 cities, railway stations and their surrounding areas — which are traditionally littered — have been found to be clean.

It also stated that 75 per cent of community and public toilets are functional and well-lit, and had water supply and improved ventilation systems.

The survey revealed that door-to-door waste collection was done in 80 per cent of the wards in 297 cities, and towns and 75 per cent of the notified commercial areas in 226 cities and towns were swept twice daily.

An important development reported in the survey was that the vacancy of sanitation staff was reduced to less than 10 per cent in 227 cities and towns.

In terms of monitoring, GPS and RFID-based tracking of vehicles transporting solid waste had started in 166 cities and towns, while ICT based monitoring of attendance is being done in 158 cities, the survey stated.

It also mentioned that there has been substantial improvement in overall cleanliness in 75% of the residential areas in 404 cities and towns.