‘Swachh ranking all farce; honest survey would have placed Bhopal at 70th spot’, say corporators

‘Swachh ranking all farce; honest survey would have placed Bhopal at 70th spot’, say corporators

FPJ BureauUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 06:50 AM IST
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Bhopal: Bhopal municipal corporation (BMC) and district administration thumped its chest with much celebration after Bhopal was declared the second cleanest city in the country in the Swachh Survekshan 2017 (cleanliness survey) carried out in 500 cities. However, much to its contradiction, some corporators of wards falling in old city areas believed that the survey result was a farce, as level of cleanliness has rather deteriorated than improving.

Bhopal, which fared 54th in Swachh Survekshan 2016, jumped considerably to the second spot in 2017, which was topped by Indore. While good many numbers of citizens had already raised their doubt in the city’s second spot in the survey, now, with the corporators echoing the same, the glory has started losing popularity among masses.

“The survey is all farce and false. It is impossible to believe Bhopal is the second cleanest city in India with heaps of garbage in many old city areas,” said corporator of ward 19 in old city area, Shahwar Mansuri while speaking to Free Press on the issue. Mansuri, whose ward comprises areas, including Jumeirati, Saifia College, Ghoda Nakkas, Chawani and Bharat Talkies alleged that BMC only focuses on the new city areas.

“During the survey, BMC officials took the survey team to pre-decided places, which they had cleaned of all the garbage and dirt at least three hours prior to the visit. They didn’t take them to the colonies and streets inside the old city areas, which reflect the real picture. In my area the level of cleanliness has decreased rather than improving. When I became the corporator of this ward, there were total 54 sanitary workers, but today they have been reduced to 36 for some strange reasons. Had the survey been done honestly, then Bhopal would have featured at 70 or 80th spot,” said Mansuri.

Speaking to Free Press, he rued that complaining to BMC officials about cleanliness in the ward only fetches hollow promises. “One can easily find the streets in my ward and other areas of old city full of garbage. Even the nullahs in the area are choked with no effort to clean them despite repeated pleas to BMC commissioner, mayor and other officials. There are some areas where sanitary workers clean them only once in five days with no scope of improvement in it,” added Mansuri.

Another ward corporator of the same old city area, Abdul Shafique of ward number 14, while speaking to Free Press said that there has been improvement in the level of cleanliness, but not much which can sky-rocket Bhopal from 54th position to 2nd position in the list of cleanest cities of India.

“There has been always a difference between the developmental works in old city and new city areas. New city is always being more emphasised upon in comparison to old city. My ward, which includes areas like Congress Nagar, Kacchi Masjid, Nagar Nigam Colony and Indira Nagar, has an improved level of cleanliness in comparison to last year, but it was nothing significant,” said Shafique.

One of the residents of the Bairagarh locality in city Karan Sidhwani while speaking to Free Press too echoed the opinion of the two corporators.

“There has been something fishy about the whole survey. The level of cleanliness in Bairagarh area is very bad as one can see sewage water flowing on the road in many areas. Even today after the achievement, the situation has not changed. The BMC’s boasting of being the second cleanest city and maintaining the cleanliness are all false,” said Sidhwani.

Despite repeated attempts, Free Press failed to reach mayor Alok Sharma for his comments on the issue.

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