The Urban Sanitation Wing of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India has published a list of 423 cities and towns in India as per a Sanitation Ranking adopted by the Government. Keeping in mind the MDG Goals and the need to hasten up the process of abolishing open defecation, the Ministry needs to be commended for the initiative to rank Indian cities on the basis of various indicators.
Open defecation continues to be a menace in the towns and cities too, apart from the villages where it is still rampant. Having travelled across India I have always compared towns and cities based on their level of sanitation and cleanliness. A city as old as Varanasi was always bound to have a lower scale on my estimation compared to planned cities like Pondicherry or Chandigarh. How long are we going to tolerate this apathy on matters related to sanitation when it comes to old cities? When are these cities going to learn from other old cities which have made strides in sanitation? I had recently been to Nagpur and the first thing that appealed me was the effort taken by the Corporation to cleanse the city. When asked how this has happened, the locals remember a Commissioner from Andhra Pradesh who was responsible for the sweeping changes in Nagpur.
My thoughts went back to my own home town, Coimbatore, when years back it took one Municipal Commissioner to make an everlasting change in the city. As a school going boy I had always remembered buildings belonging to the Municipality as places where people urinate anytime or defecate in the dark. It was one person who made a change by painting all Municipal buildings grey and white. Compound walls of Municipal buildings were painted and strips of road-side gardens cropped up everywhere. I still remember the name of the person who did this as much as the citizens of Coimbatore- Mr Niranjan Mardi. His two pronged strategy did pay dividends. He not only painted the buildings and gave them a place of pride among the citizens but also gave a serious look ‘inside’. He successfully thwarted the red tapism which was a virtual rot in the system then. This I can say with all impunity because my mother who retired as a teacher in the Municipality during that time had her retirement papers moved fast enough to get her benefits, which otherwise would have been buried ‘deliberately’ under files.
How long are we going to depend on such one person miracles to happen in our cities? It is high time we brought in a sea change in the system. What prevents all employees of a Municipality or a Corporation to behave like a Niranjan Mardi? The rot has become systemic and it is in the DNA. It is like the residual effect of pesticides, traces of which can be found in human blood.
Despite all the rot, hats off to all those young Commissioners who are striving to make a dent in their cities by improving the level of sanitation. This method of grading cities will surely help in moving up the scale to reach the top. This sense of competition has to be infused in the minds of all stakeholders and the foremost is the common man. The message of this competition has to reach the common man so that he also strives to keep his/her city clean. This was my intention of placing this news on my Blog.
Descriptions of the methodology adopted by the Ministry- All indicators have been allotted marks and the overall assessment is on a scale from 0 to 100:
“1. Ouput-related - 50*
A. No open defecation sub-total- 16
i. Access and use of toilets by urban poor and other un-served households (including slums) - individual and community sanitation facilities- 4
ii. Access and use of toilets for floating and institutional populations - adequate public sanitation facilities- 4
iii. No open defecation visible- 4
iv. Eliminate Manual Scavenging and provide personnel protection equipment to sanitary workers- 4
B. Proportion of total human excreta generation that is safely collected (6 points for 100%) - 6
C. Proportion of total black waste water generation that is treated and safely disposed off (6 points for 100%) - 6
D. Proportion of total grey waste water generation that is treated and safely disposed off (3 points for 100%) - 3
E. Proportion of treated water that is recycled and reused for non-potable applications - 3
F. Proportion of total storm-water and drainage that is efficiently and safely managed (3 points for 100%) - 3
G. Proportion of total solid waste generation that is regularly collected (4 points for 100%) - 4
H. Proportion of total solid waste generation that is treated and safely disposed off (4 points for 100%) - 4
I. City wastes cause no adverse impacts on surrounding areas outside city limits (5 points for 100%) - 5
2. Process-related** 30
A. M&E systems are in place to track incidences of open defecation - 4
B. All sewerage systems in the city are working properly and there is no ex-filtration (Not applicable for cities without sewerage systems) - 5
C. Septage/sludge is regularly cleaned, safely transported and disposed after treatment, from on-site systems in the city (MAXIMUM 10 marks for cities without sewerage systems) - 5
D. Underground and Surface drainage systems are functioning and are well-maintained - 4
E. Solid waste management (collection and treatment) systems are efficient (and are in conformity with the MSW Rules, 2003) - 5
F. There is clear institutional responsibility assigned; and there are documented operational systems in practice for b)/c) to e) above - 4
G. Sanctions for deviance on part of polluters and institutions is clearly laid out and followed in practice - 3
3. Outcome-related 20
A. Improved quality of drinking water in city compared to baseline 7
B. Improved water quality in water bodies in and around city compared to baseline - 7
C. Reduction in water-borne disease incidence amongst city population compared to baseline - 6
* The marks for the above indicators will be revised every two to three years. Over time, indicators about
more stringent conditions e.g. no-urination, or spitting in open/public spaces, etc. will be introduced as
indicators. The weights accorded to each category and specific indicators will also be revised
** In this context, bigger cities may consider instituting good practice systems that comply with ISO (International
Standards Organization) and/or BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) process systems.
Based on the above ratings a colour coding has been given by the Ministry:
1. Red Cities on the brink of public health and environmental “emergency” and needing immediate remedial action - less than 33
1. Red Cities on the brink of public health and environmental “emergency” and needing immediate remedial action - less than 33
2. Black Needing considerable improvements - 34-66
3. Blue Recovering but still diseased – 67-90
4. Green Healthy and Clean city – 91 – 100
■ On the basis of plans prepared and implemented, cities will be able to measure the results of their actions, and be able to clearly chart out their improvements over time compared to their baseline situation.
■ On achievement of remarkable results, i.e. coming into the Green category (Healthy and Clean City), cities will typically become eligible for the national award. Other cities showing remarkable incremental performance or selective achievements may also be given special or honorary awards. Cities in different size-classes may also be considered for category-wise awards.
■ Based on results of the Rating survey and selection of awardees, cities will be invited to participate in a National Urban Sanitation Award ceremony.”
You may note from the list of cities that none of the cities have qualified themselves for the ‘ Green Healthy and Clean City category of 91 to 100 marks. The city on the top of the list Chandigarh is still at a low 73.48 and has a long way to make it to the Green slot. I was surprised to find my home town Coimbatore down at 92nd place and Nagpur at 239th place.
In case you are interested to know where your city/town in India is placed you may refer the following site:
Source:
National Urban Sanitation Supply-Ministry of Urban Development
The entire list of ranked 423 cities/towns is available here: Ranking of 423 cities in India
P.Uday Shankar
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