Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The efforts taken by the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) to keep the city clean not only earns it bragging rights as India's cleanest city year after year, but also some hard cash.
The IMC earns Rs 8 crore annually from the plants which convert waste into useful products such as bio-CNG.
The corporation employs about 8,500 sanitation workers in three shifts from 6 am to 4 am -- 22 hours a day -- to keep the city clean.
A new 550-tonne capacity bio-CNG plant is going to be commissioned soon, which will take the civic body's annual earnings from waste treatment to Rs 10 crore.
At present, the private companies which make bio-CNG, compost and other products by processing wet and dry waste pay about Rs 8 crore to the IMC every year.
For the past six years, there are no big garbage dumps in the city. About 700 vehicles with compartments to segregate six types of waste including bio-waste such as diapers and sanitary napkins collect garbage from almost every doorstep, officials said.
The IMC disposes of 600 tonnes each of wet and dry waste every day.
In August, Indore was also declared the country's first `Water Plus' city under the Swachh Survekshan 2021 for cleaning up the Kanh-Saraswati rivers and 25 small and big drains.
This was achieved, primarily, by stopping the release of sewage water into the river and drains from 1,746 public and 5,624 domestic outfalls.
