Srinagar ranks LOW on cleanliness list

The summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar has been ranked as one of the dirtiest cities on countrywide survey in terms of cleanliness index.

Out of 73 cities, Srinagar has been ranked 48th on the cleanliness index of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). The data was released here by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.

Mysore was declared as the cleanest city among all million plus and capital cities while Dhanbad of Jharkhand has been raked the worst.

The countrywide survey by the ministry was based on the marks scored in respect of main components of Swachh Bharat Mission.

The parameters included availability of infrastructure and service levels related to sanitation such as individual household toilets, public and community toilets and collection, transportation and processing of municipal solid waste.

Srinagar city has fared miserably on these key sanitation parameters with a rank of 48 in the cleanliness list.

73 cities surveyed for cleanliness have been categorized based on the marks scored by each of them in the ‘Swachh Survekshan-2016’ survey results.

These findings are of the first ever cleanliness ranking of cities since Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in October 2014.

The summer capital Srinagar is among the 18 cities needing acceleration in cleanliness, according to the government survey.

According to the ‘Swachh Survekshan -2016 – ranks of 73 cities Mysore tops the list while Dhanbad occupies the bottom of the list. 15 cities are in Leaders category, 20 in Aspiring Leaders, 18 cities needing acceleration, and 20 Slow Movers.

According to the survey, 15 cities which scored more than 70 percent of the total marks of 2000, were categorized as Leaders, 20 cities with scores in the range of 60-70 percent are Aspiring Leaders.

While those with scores in the range of 50-60 percent are the cities which need to accelerate their efforts, and cities which scored below 50 percent are named Slow Movers which need to work harder to improve sanitation.

Pertinently, on January 28, National Green Tribunal had castigated the Jammu and Kashmir government for municipal waste scattered across Srinagar.