Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) though has managed to figure in the top five country’s cleanest cities, the civic body requires more funds to improve its ranking in Swachh Survekshan. Moving one spot up from last year, Bhopal acquired the fifth position in the list of cleanest cities with a five-star rating for garbage free city. The state capital has to compete with the city like Indore, which has remained on the top for the seventh time in a row. Indore spends around Rs 200 crore per year alone on waste management, while Bhopal comes nowhere close to such a huge spending on Swachhata.
Besides funds, the civic body will also have to work towards creating public awareness and bringing about a behavioural change towards cleanliness in the city to better its ranking in the cleanliness survey.
BMC has meager budget
MLA Rameshwar Sharma said, “BMC has a budget of Rs 3000 crore but major portion is for Centre-sponsored schemes. BMC hardly has a Rs 100 crore budget. Higher Ups do not sanction funds to BMC but if we want to improve our ranking in Swachh Survekshan then more money along with efforts is required.”
No master plan but people silent
Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) spokesman Manoj Meek said, “ In Indore, there is behavioural change among people towards cleanliness. But Bhopal, has till to adopt it. There is a lack of awareness among people regarding cleanliness and urban planning. No one has raised voice even after the Master plan has not been implemented for the last 25 years in Bhopal. This reflects lack of awareness in the public.”
Public participation, commitment
P Raju, MD Signature builders, said, “ We lack commitment toward our city. Public participation, commitment towards cleanliness is evident in Indore but is not seen in Bhopal. People have adopted cleanliness and it reflects in their behavior. This behavioral change towards cleanliness has helped Indore to retain the cleanest city title for the seventh consecutive time.”
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