Bhubaneswar: Here is the first disappointing news of 2020. Bhubaneswar is no longer a ‘smart city’ in terms of cleanliness. It was the number one smart in the country in 2016 and has now slipped to 311 and 166 spots in terms of cleanliness in the first and second quarters of Swachh Survekshan League 2020. It is a precursor to Swachh Survekshan 2020, which will start from January 4. A report released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, says that with just 225.13 points, Bhubaneswar remained at the bottom in the list of top five cities/towns from Odisha in the first quarter of the Swachh Survekshan League.
Berhampur with 678.98 points secured the 170th rank in the first quarter, Rourkela 231th, while Cuttack and Sambalpur secured 243th and 280th spots respectively. Not a single city or town from the state could make it to the top 100 in the league ranking in the first quarter. However, Bhadrak secured 86th rank in the second quarter followed by Berhampur at 113, Bhubaneswar at 166, Balasore at 180 and Puri town at 217.
The slide in the Swachhata ranking has come as somewhat of an embarrassment to the state government. It reflects poorly on the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). In Swachh Survekhsan 2018, Bhubaneswar was below Berhampur in terms of cleanliness. Berhampur ranked 216 whereas Bhubaneswar was placed at 288 among 4,237 cities in the country.
Urban Planner Piyush Rout blamed lack of proper solid waste management as one of the main reasons behind Bhubaneswar’s poor ranking. BMC Deputy Commissioner Subhendu Sahu said efforts are on to improve the ranking of the city by strengthening sanitation and waste management with 43 micro composting centres being set up in Bhubaneswar for this purpose.
