Patna: With only a few days left before the central team visits the city, the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) is leaving no stone unturned to improve its overall ranking and achieve a better score in Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2024. The cleanliness survey, carried out in all urban local bodies by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs, ranks them based on cleanliness. Rajan Sinha, additional municipal commissioner (AMC), said they aimed to secure at least three stars under the garbage-free city (GFC) award. “Last year, we received a one-star rating in this category. Since then, the PMC has worked extensively to maintain cleanliness and sanitation by organising various campaigns and implementing beautification measures such as planting under flyovers, installing water fountains, painting walls at different locations, creating selfie zones and eliminating garbage-vulnerable points. We expect that our scoring will improve compared to previous years,” he said. Apart from the GFC, the PMC holds a water-plus tag for adopting best practices to conserve water, ensuring the safe discharge of sewage, cleaning septic tanks and sewers using mechanised equipment and sewage treatment. It also has open defecation free++ certification. “The toolkit for the SS survey changes in points, but the essence remains the same. More weight has been given to visible cleanliness. Hence, we are paying attention to our vehicles and their branding. In the processing unit at Bairiya, we are also focusing on branding and improving signage. We are also paying attention to community and private toilets,” Sinha told TOI on Thursday. The PMC has set up 10 smart toilets across the city, equipped with modern facilities. Under its campaign, Chakachak Patna, the curve-shaped toilets, illuminated with colourful lights, have separate compartments for males and females. The new toilets will be inaugurated this month. Six pink toilets and loo cafés are also operational in the city. The AMC stated that from Feb 15, the civic body would begin desilting drains and manholes. For this herculean task, 20 additional sanitation workers have been provided to each ward. The PMC has approximately 8,000 sanitation workers. The new SS toolkit consists of 10 assessment parameters, including visible cleanliness, waste segregation, collection and transportation, solid waste management, access to sanitation, used water management, mechanised desludging services, swachhata advocacy, ecosystem strengthening and institutional parameters, sanitation worker welfare and citizen feedback and grievance redressal. Sweta Bhaskar, a PMC official, said that to ensure cleanliness, all vehicles, including water sprinklers, auto-tippers, e-karts and sweeping machines, were in operation. “We are also focusing on all parameters of the toolkit, from sanitation to environmental impact and public participation. The only thing we lack is a waste-to-energy plant,” she said. Bhaskar added, “The team is likely to visit Patna after Feb 15 and will assess all parameters by visiting various areas, including the landfill site at Ramachak Bairiya.” PMC commissioner Animesh Kumar Parshar recently inspected the dumping yard and found the situation satisfactory. He instructed that greenery should be added using the Miyawaki technique to enhance the site’s appearance. Two German hangars will be installed in Ramachak Bairiya — one at the compost site and one at the weighbridge. All compost in the pits should be emptied, and on March 31, the corporation will gift each household a 500-gram compost packet as a token of appreciation. As part of beautification efforts, sanitation workers will paint murals on the boundary wall. The city secured the 77th rank out of 446 major cities (with a population above one lakh) across the country in SS 2023, scoring 6,320.9 marks out of 9,500. In SS 2022, the city scored 3,337.28 out of 7,500, ranking 38 out of 45 cities.
