Swachh Survekshan-2022 MCD gearing up to make Doon garbage-free

Tuesday, 14 December 2021 | PNS | Dehradun

Aims to focus on segregation and effective disposal of garbage.

The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has geared itself up for making the city garbage-free by making the segregation process efficient in the city to improve the ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2022 (SS22) which was launched on September 27. Dehradun recently became the first city in Uttarakhand to rank in the top 100 cleanest cities in the 1-10 lakh population category in Swachh Surveskshan 2021 (SS21) by securing 82nd position.

Motivated by the jump from 124^th position to 82^nd position within one year, the corporation said it will aim to get Dehradun into the top 50 cleanest cities of the country. However, the corporation still needs to tackle many challenges to improve the ranking in the seventh edition of Swachh Survekshan like roadside garbage dumping and lack of public toilets. Garbage dumping on the roadside is a growing concern in the city which is getting severe with time.

Though the city performed well in the last cleanliness survey SS21, municipal commissioner Abhishek Ruhela said the corporation still needs to work on making the city garbage-free as Dehradun received only a one-star rating in the garbage-free city category. “The MCD will mainly focus on segregation and effective disposal of garbage collected through the door to door service and construction demolition waste. This will help in the reduction of the inappropriate disposal of waste in open areas,” stated Ruhela.

Since adequate availability of public toilets is one of the important components of SS22 too, he said that the corporation is also working on finding pieces of land for the construction of toilets. He said, “We want to increase the availability of public toilets in crowded places like market areas but lack of space in such areas is causing a delay in construction work. Our teams are working on the issue and we will make a thorough strategy this week on how to make improvements in the categories where the city failed in SS21.”