Adjudged as the Cleanest City in India under the Swachh Survekshan mission, for the fourth consecutive year, the city of Indore has surely set a stellar example of hygiene and cleanliness like no other. Indore Municipal Corporation has taken some serious measures to achieve this ranking and their framework includes key cleanliness parameters which are to be met. The corporation has employed around thousands of sweepers and the city has reportedly resolved about 90% of its solid waste challenge.
100% household-waste segregation in 3 parts
The sweeping of roads is done with the help of motorised vehicles in Indore and sweeping is practiced in commercial areas thrice a day whereas in residential areas, it is done once a day. Every morning, garbage vans plying across the city play their patent song, Indore hua hai number one, which alerts the citizens of their arrival.
Indore’s municipal corporation has eliminated garbage dumps, ensured 100% household-waste segregation and converted waste to usable products, such as compost and fuel. This has been in action since 2016, which in turn has helped Indore to bag the tag of the cleanest city in the country.
The residents have to segregate the waste in three parts- kitchen waste, dry waste and hazardous waste (sanitary pads, expired medicines, etc) and the garbage vehicle too, have three compartments for these categories. Hazardous waste is picked up mechanically in a capsule (a 15-feet-long cylindrical drum) and transported to the incinerator located at a specific site for burning it down. Even the amount of food waste generated is recorded in booklets, which each shop owners have and the establishments end up paying a fixed charge based on the weight of the garbage they produce.
IMC has partnered with non-governmental organisations for an awareness campaign to reach out to its citizens, contracted private companies to run a few waste management operations and improved municipal capacity to ensure the implementation of its waste management framework.
Indore has additionally achieved the label of an ODF (open-defecation-free) city and the entire city almost covered with a sound drainage system. During the span 2017-18, the IMC collected 27 crores in the form of user fees for waste collection. The annual expenditure of Indore pertaining to sanitation activities amounts to approximately 550 crore per year.
