by THO
Noida has been judged the 14th cleanest city in the country in Swachh Survekshan 2023, the annual cleanliness survey conducted by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), in coordination with the Quality Council of India, under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U). The results of the survey were announced on Thursday.
Also, among 342 cities with a population of 300,000 or more, Noida secured the second spot in the Swachh rankings this year. This is a significant improvement from last year, when the city had come in fifth in this category. The city was ranked fourth in 2021; 25th in 2020, 150th in 2019 and 324th in 2018.
The city received five stars in the survey on the “garbage free cities (GFC)” parameter. In 2022, too, Noida got five stars in the GFC category, while in 2020, Noida got a three stars in the same category. Seven stars is the highest rating a city can secure with the best waste management practices.
Noida got five star water-plus certification, the highest possible ranking, in the parameter of treating waste water, becoming the first city in Uttar Pradesh to secure this certification.
“We are happy that Noida improved its ranking and also got five star water plus certification for our measures for treating waste water, putting bamboo sticks in drains to trap plastic waste and treating all our sewage in the city itself. Our entire staff has worked really hard and the leadership in the past and present has worked in co-ordination to make the city the cleanest,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer, Noida authority.
Noida has decentralized garbage collection and treatment system by putting in place separate dustbins to collect different kinds of waste and treat the same right at the generation point. The authority has put up a construction and demolition waste facility in Sector 81 to recycle debris, and installed at least 25 gas based facilities to recycle green waste and putting small facilities to treat other kinds of waste, said officials.
The authority has 5,000 sanitation workers, who are monitored via cameras and GPS to ensure proper waste handling. The authority has built 14 pink toilets for women and started door to door garbage collection in residential areas.
Noida has around 165 sectors and 65 villages, which produce 900 metric tonnes of waste daily. From 2018, the Noida authority started collecting door-to-door waste with the help of 260 vehicles and 30 compact machines, which help crush waste for easy transportation.
Nearly 70 community toilets, 150 public toilets, 14 pink toilets and 119 urinals were built by the authority in the city in the past four years to discourage people from defecating in the open, said officials.
It distributed 30,000 home composting kits, installed 3,000 dustbins at different sites, and focused on reducing, reusing, and recycling waste. A bio-remediation plant spread over 20,000 hectares was also set up at Mubarakpur in Sector 145 to treat waste.
“We are happy that we got better ranking but we need to further improve the cleanliness system. The Noida authority has been doing a good job but they need to further streamline the working to achieve better,” said NP Singh, president of Gautam Budh Nagar district development residents’ welfare association, an umbrella body of resident bodies
