A ‘RANK’ THAT OUR PINK CITY SHOULD BE ABASHED ABOUT!

Jaipur: In the annual Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023 announced on Thursday, Indore and Surat emerged as the ‘cleanest cities’ in the country.

The survey painted a sorry picture of Jaipur, the Pink City. Both Jaipur Heritage and Greater Corporations stood at 171 and 173 ranks respectively as against 11th and 32nd positions previously, highlighting the dismal performance of the Jaipur Municipal Corporations, which are responsible for the cleanliness of the city. For the Jaipur Corporations, this rank should be a cause of shame more so because the city happens to be the state capital, unlike Indore which is just another city in Madhya Pradesh.

Additionally, to add to the shameful situation, Rajasthan has even dropped from 8th to 25th position in the country and not a single city of the state ranks among the top 170 cities. The reason for this sorry state of affairs can be attributed to municipalities, councils, and corporations remaining entangled in political conflicts and disputes. Piles of garbage everywhere, overflowing drains, choked sewer lines, broken streetlights, stray animals wandering on the roads, unauthorised construction and encroachments in every lane seem to have become a norm and this has now become the fate of the people of Rajasthan.

Even private and public toilets built under the Swachh Bharat Mission are in a dismal state and even the concept of an open defecation-free city seems to be no longer effective. The need of the hour is that the government must take stringent measures and determine the responsibility of the municipal officials.

Government should instruct the district collectors and administration to monitor the cleanliness system. A clear agenda for meetings of secretaries in charge of districts and ministers needs to be established to bring cleanliness back on track and only then can there be any hope for improvement in this deteriorating system.