Berhampur: Berhampur ranked 308 at the national level out of 485 cities with more than 1 lakh population. And ranked 4th out of 11 cities in Odisha remains behind Bhubaneswar, Baleshwar and Rourkela. BeMC has scores 1657.3 out of total 4000 which is more than the state average 1323.2 and slight less than the national average 1931.3.
Berhampur has poorly scored in ‘service level progress’ category with only 38 score which is significantly less than the national average (287), state level average (101) and also less than Bhubaneswar (395), Rourkela (175) and Cuttack (153) in Odisha. The service level progress which is an important category comprises of waste collection and transport; waste processing and disposal; sanitation-open defecation free; IEC and behaviour change; capacity building; and innovations and best practices, in which Berhampur has drastically failed to meet the score and remains only 38 out of 1400.
Under ‘direct observation’ category Berhampur has shown the way by scoring 888.9 which is more than the national average 806 and also higher from all municipal corporations of Odisha. Similarly in ‘citizen feedback’ category Berhampur also scored well with 730 which is better than state average (567) and also higher from Bhubaneswar (710) and Cuttack (630). Odisha ranked 22nd positions out of 31 states and union territories in India. Four NACs of Ganjam those are Rambha (rank-187), Chatrapur (rank-194), Hinjilicut (rank-206), and Chikiti (rank-209) placed in best 20 positions in Odisha under the cities with less than 1 lakh population category in Swachh Survekshan 2018. BeMC allocated a total amount of rupees 814 lakhs for solid waste management during 2016-17 budget. Among those an amount of Rs.650 lakhs for privatisation of sanitation works and solid waste management, Rs. 100 lakhs for approach road to SWM project Mohuda and Rs. 42 lakhs and purchase and repair of vehicles and other Rs. 21 lakhs. Similarly Rs. 55 lakhs budgeted for construction, repair and maintenance of CC drains. On the other hand for construction of public toilets and it maintenance it has budgeted Rs. 480 lakhs. A total amount of Rs. 1409 lakhs for sanitation (public health) purposes which is 5.4% of the total budget of BeMC.
Similarly Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation in 2017-18 allocated Rs. 19.9 lakhs for construction and maintenance of toilets (CT/PT), Rs. 1297 lakhs for waste collection and management, privatisation of sanitation Rs.51.9 lakhs and Cuttack Municipal Corporation allocated 2726 lakhs for sanitation in 2016-17 and Rourkela Municipal Corporation allocated 100 lakhs in 2015-16 for sanitation.
Swachh Survekshan 2018, like 2016 and 2017, was conducted to study the progress of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and rank Urban Local Bodies in India on the basis of cleanliness and sanitation. The number of ULBs assessed has progressively increased in 2018 to 4203 cities than 434 in 2017 and 73 in 2016. Though the city governments in Odisha vested with powers in 18 subjects under the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, are unable to exercise all powers on the other hand poor budget allocation in sanitation services and efficient execution of central and state sponsored projects/grants. As a result citizen is not getting the basic services including sanitation in the cities. Survey and statistics does not only represent the numbers and percentages but also provide insights in to the city planning, development and action plan. It is high time to start debate and discussion on issues related to sanitation in cities among the policy makers, government, service providers, civil society, media and the citizen. Based on the observations of the Swachh Survekshan, 2018, we have drawn some suggestions; • BeMC and other cities should come out with a strategic programme to manage solid waste in the city. It has to improve the waste processing and disposal. Seriously need a functional “Waste Processing Plant” with 100 waste processing. • BeMC and other cities should adopt sanitary landfill practice, remediation of existing dumps. Should start waste segregation practice at source/household level in all the wards. • Immediately construction of community/public toilets where there is lack of space and also in public spaces. On the other hand households not having toilet should provide IHHL under the Swachha Bharat Mission (SBM) scheme to make slums and city open defecation free. • BeMC and other cities need to achieve 100% grievance readdressal within the time frame for that it should use of ICT based (Mobile Application and IVR) grievance mechanism. • To encourage citizen participation BeMC and other cities should involve citizen, civil society, business community and other private sector to improve the sanitation situation. And also organise citizen consultation for better implementation of projects.
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