Lokmat News Network
Aurangabad, Oct 1:
In a surprising development, the national ranking of Aurangabad has slipped from 26th
position during last year to 30th position in the Cleanliness Survey 2022. It may be noted that the Central Government announced the results on Saturday. The state-level ranking of the city has also dropped to 9th position.
The union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is conducting the Cleanliness Survey since 2014, every year. The result of the survey are announced on the eve of the Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti (on Oct 2). The cities with a one million plus population participate in the cleanliness contest.
The AMC’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) section confirmed that the city has secured 30th position in the country and it was in 26th position last year. “In the top 10 cities of Maharashtra, Aurangabad has secured 9th position. This is also surprising as last year it was on 6th position,” said the SWM officials. Meanwhile, the ranking has raised the question of the contribution made by the city to maintain clean and hygienic and excel in the survey.
Why low ranking?
It is learnt that the city lagged behind in
achieving cent per cent defecation-free city. It fell short of 400 marks. In 2021, the city got ODF plus plus ranking. It is being said that the decline in ranking could be attributed to the garbage lifting system, transportation of garbage in uncovered vehicles etc.
No preparations, why?
The AMC was aware that the central assessment team will be visiting the city, but it had made no special preparations to shine in the survey. The civic administration even maintained confidentiality about the visit of the central team. To be precise, the AMC failed to work out the parameters of the team to excel in the survey.
We are hopeful: Civic Chief
The AMC municipal commissioner and administrator Abhijeet Chaudhari underlined that there are many more works to be done for the cleanliness of the city. We will undertake a study on our shortcomings and work upon them to score in future. Our aim will be to excel in the top 10 cities of the country.