SS League is conducted in three quarters - April-June, July-September and October-December - with the aim of sustaining the on-ground performance of cities along with monitoring of when it comes to cleanliness. A total of 4,237 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) cities participated in the league.
The measurement indicators within the Survekshan were redesigned to capture whether initiatives taken by cities are sustainable in the long run, thus going beyond ODF status and looking into the sustainability other crucial segments, which includes meeting protocols ward of a ULBs, and bylaws and regulatory compliance, contributing to quantify cleanliness in the country.
Indore ranked first consecutively in first and second quarter results of the SS League, among the cities where population is more than 10 lakh. Indore's success establishes that ULBs have efficiently complied with protocols, regulations and bylaws. This year a fourth assessment protocol, citizen feedback, was introduced under Swachh Bharat Mission, which includes certification of cities on ODF+/ODF++ and star rating of garbage free cities by independent third parties.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs secretary Durga Shanker Mishra had said Indore, which was number one in the past three sanitation surveys, continues to occupy the top slot in the first two quarters of 2019. Bhopal, second in the first quarter, was replaced by Rajkot (Gujarat) in the second quarter. Surat was at third position in the first quarter, but Navi Mumbai replaced it in the second quarter rankings.
Jamshedpur, in the category among with population between 1 lakh and 10 lakh, was at the top in both quarters. New Delhi Municipal Council ranked fifth in the SS League, and the other municipal corporations ranked very poorly on the table. South Delhi Municipal Corporation was at 138; East Delhi Municipal Corporation ranked at 240; and North Delhi Municipal Corporation ranked at 282.
A national-level survey of cleanliness of cities is slated to begin from January 4, leading to the final Swachh Survekshan 2020 rankings.
(Sumit saxena can be contacted at sumit.s@.in)
( With inputs from IANS )