Focus on Waste Management, GVPs, and Citizen Feedback
The Swachh Survekshan-2025 assessment is underway, with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) under scrutiny to improve its national cleanliness ranking. The evaluation team, which arrived on March 30, will assess the city’s sanitation and waste management over two weeks, focusing on 54 key indicators. Key areas of evaluation include cleanliness, waste segregation, garbage collection, wastewater management, and road sweeping. Citizen feedback will play a crucial role in assessing NMC’s Solid Waste Management performance.
The Swachh Survekshan-2025 assessment is worth a total of 12,500 marks, with 10,000 marks for overall performance, 1,300 for garbage-free city status, and 1,200 for open defecation-free certification. Given Nagpur’s past fluctuating rankings, civic officials are under pressure to show significant improvements this year.
Nagpur’s performance in the Swachh Survekshan rankings has been inconsistent over the years. The city ranked a disappointing 137th in 2017 but made an impressive jump to 18th place in 2020. However, it has struggled to maintain its position, slipping to 86th in 2023. While Nagpur has shown strength in door-to-door waste collection and source segregation, its biggest setback came in the “garbage-free city” category, where it scored zero out of 1,250 crucial marks.
Nagpur continues to face waste management issues, with many Garbage Vulnerable Points (GVPs) across the city. Despite outsourcing garbage collection, the city has yet to earn the ‘garbage-free city’ certification. While NMC officially lists 400 GVPs, the actual number is likely higher. To tackle this, the Solid Waste Management Department has launched a cleanup drive, targeting 100 key dumping spots. Each municipal zone has been directed to clear at least 10 ‘black spots’ caused by public negligence.
With 4,400 km of roads to maintain and a sanitation workforce of 7,000, NMC has deployed various machines, including six road sweepers, three robotic sewer cleaners, 21 suction-cum-jetting machines, and five suction machines, although three are nearing the end of their service life. Recently, NMC acquired two additional suction-cum-jetting machines from the state government. As the Swachh Survekshan-2025 assessment continues, the city’s ability to tackle GVPs, improve waste processing, and gather positive public feedback will be key to its ranking. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Vijay Deshmukh has urged citizens to support NMC’s efforts and provide favorable feedback to the SBM survey team, stressing that public participation will be crucial in shaping Nagpur’s national cleanliness standing.
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