New Delhi:A Swachh Survekshan survey over 97 Ganga towns spread across 5 states on Thursday have revealed that a lot needs to be done to make Ganga and its vicinity clean.
Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha, was declared the ''Best Ganga Town'' in the country, followed by Kanpur, Munger, Prayagraj and Haridwar.
The survey was conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) from January 15 to 31 and covered states like Uttarakhand (16), Uttar Pradesh (21), Bihar (18), Jharkhand (2) and West Bengal (40).
The survey report which was released by MoHUA minister Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi said that sweeping and cleaning arrangements were available in 62 towns, in 52 towns anti-littering messages were placed across ghats, only 19 towns had functional municipal solid waste (MSW) plants, in 31 towns no nullah was being discharged into the river. The survey also found that across 46 towns, no solid waste was found floating on a rover surface.
The survey was conducted by a third party assessment team which has collected data from 863 ghats using direct observation method along with capturing video and photographic evidence.
The initiative was part of the clean Ganga mission.
"Focussing on the rejuvenation of Ganga without concentrating on the cleanliness of its ghats and surroundings stands to significantly undo the efforts of the mission. It was this underlying thought that led Swach Bharat Mission-U to first u certain a third party inspection of the Ganga towns to evaluate the actual on-ground situation," said VK Jindal, former joint secretary and mission director.
The survey further said that in Uttarakhand, open dumpsites were found around ghats of 5 towns, 4 towns in Uttar Pradesh were observed where open dumpsites were present, in Bihar open dumpsites were found in 15 out of 18 Ganga towns.
In many of the towns of five states, garbage vulnerable points (GVP) were found during the survey.
The survey was done to evaluate the performance of Ganga ghats on sanitation and said waste management parameters. The entire survey was conducted using a mobile application to minimise physical interventions and reduce the chances of error.
Meanwhile, Indore city in Madhya Pradesh has been named the cleanest city for the fourth time in a row in the category of more than one lakh population. Whereas, Chhattisgarh ranked first in the category of best performing states with more than a hundred urban local bodies, while Jharkhand topped the list in the less than one hundred urban local bodies category.
Talking to Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that competitive spirit strengthens the Swachh Bharat Mission and benefits millions. In a tweet, PM Modi congratulated all those cities who have secured top positions in the Swachh Survekshan 2020. "Congratulations to all those cities who have secured top positions in #SwachhSurvekshan2020. May other cities also be inspired to further ramp up their efforts towards ensuring cleanliness. Such competitive spirit strengthens the Swachh Bharat Mission and benefits millions," PM Modi said.
Also Read: Indore tops India's cleanest cities list
