After securing a spot in the category of top 10 cleanest cities across the country in 2019, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is now all geared up for Swachh Survekshan 2021.
Keeping a check on waste management, conducting coordination meets with concerned departments and sensitising the ward volunteers to be in readiness for the upcoming SS 2021, the corporation is leaving no stone unturned in aiming for a much better rank in the coming survey.
Speaking about their preparations for the upcoming survey, GVMC Commissioner G. Srijana said that there are systematic improvements in the corporation compared to last year and the civic body has also put in a lot of effort into improving on several areas in which it had fell behind in the previous survey, in order to improve its ranking further.
“Having sanitation secretaries is an addition this year. They are playing a huge role in helping the GVMC promote the Swachhata app, door-to-door garbage collection, source segregation and home composting,” Ms. Srijana said. Another positive for the corporation is that by the end of this month, we will go for a trial run of the much awaited Waste to Energy recyling plant at Kapuluppada, which can process 100% waste. This plant will definitely help us in GFC Star ratings this year,” the civic chief said.
“Biomining was not started last year, but this year, the plant was established. A biogas plant for the wet waste processing is also in the implementation stage. The UGD now has proper machinery to clean manholes,” she added.
It may be noted that the corporation secured three stars in Garbage Free Cities (GFC) ratings in 2019. This year, they have declared Vizag to be a seven-star rated city, which will be assessed by a third party.
Meanwhile in certification, the civic body is aiming for ‘water plus’. For ODF++, the city should have safe disposal of faecal sludge and for ‘water plus’, the water should be reused. “Since we already have agreements and documentation for treating sludge and sale of water, we are aiming for greater than ODF++. We have submitted documents and are awaiting the results,” Ms. Srijana said.
Learning its lessons
Learning lessons from the past, the GVMC has also focused on proper utilisation of the Swachhata app and having better Citizen Feedback. These are two areas where the GVMC has scored less marks compared to a few cities which secured ranks better than them.
Additional Commissioner V. Sanyasi Rao said that last year, the corporation used to receive few complaints through the Swachhata app, but this year, 2,000 complaints are being received on an average every month and the GVMC is also responding to them instantly.
Chief Medical & Health Officer K.S.L.G. Sastry said that 1 lakh dustbins (in green, blue and red colour) are being provided to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families to encourage source segregation. Of them, 50,000 dustbins are being provided by HPCL, he said. IEC campaigns, short films, and awareness programmes are being held on a large scale, he said.
