​How corporations trashed PM Narendra Modi's clean India dream

NEW DELHI: On Independence Day in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his government's ambitious plan to launch the Clean India campaign from the Red Fort. Two years later, just 300 metres from the podium that the PM spoke from, Chandni Chowk, Delhi's oldest wholesale market, continues to reek of uncollected trash.

"No effort has been made since to streamline the waste disposal system here," says Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary of the Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal. The situation is the same across most of Delhi, except perhaps Lutyens' Delhi and Delhi Cantonment. Malodorous, overflowing dhalaos, waste-strewn roadsides and broken dustbins are a fact of life in the capital.

Ironically, it is the PM's party, BJP, that runs the three municipal corporations in south, east and north Delhi, which are responsible for waste management. Last year, the three bodies stood at 398th in the Swachh Bharat rankings of 476 cities released by the Union urban development ministry . In the recent Swachh Sarvekshan of 73 cities, the corporations fell in the categories of cities that needed to "accelerate their efforts". While North and East corporations ranked 43rd and 52nd, respectively , South was at the 39th spot.




Swachh Bharat Mission officials admit that the capital's civic bodies have done little in solid waste management, despite claims that 52% of the waste generated daily is processed. Sanitation experts cite four key reasons for the problem: lack of vision and political will, multiplicity of authority, lack of citizen participation and financial constraints.

A bigger problem than the East and North corporations' financial pains is their lack of vision, opines Shyamala Mani, professor at National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). "There is no clear plan," she says, "on how to tackle the sanitation problem." The South Corporation, however, has been experimenting, for instance, by deciding to give the sanitation contract of each of its four zones to a private concessionaire. But tendering is a fraught process and till now only one zone has been contracted out.

"We will soon issue tenders for the other zones," assures Subhash Arya, leader of the house in the body. "We will deploy 200 autotippers in each zone for waste collection and already have 1,500 rickshaws for waste collection."

Waste segregation at source, as mandated by the new Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016, is another hindrance in the capital. "There is no dearth of technology for waste disposal, but the real problem is of segregation into biodegradable and dry waste," explains Swati Singh Sambyal, programme officer at Centre for Science and Environment. "Unless this is done, technology won't be very efficient as the waste processed at the plants will be of low calorific value."

Even the New Delhi Municipal Council, ranked 4th in the Swachh Sarvekshan, hasn't achieved total segregation. Dr PK Sharma, medical health officer with NDMC, says that the civic body had "dramatically impro ved" its waste collection and disposal systems, having tied up with NGO Chintan for door-to-door collection and segregation. But he admits that 100% segregation at source was not possible.

Experts suggest that a possible solution could lie in allowing registered RWAs to manage waste. "Some RWAs, like those in Vasant Vihar and Vasant Kunj, have installed effective systems for collection and clearing the waste from dhalaos," says Mani. Experts also advise taking the help of ragpickers for waste segregations. "If these people are roped in at the initial stage instead of at the dhalao or landfill, then they can also earn their livelihood with dignity ," points out Rajesh Kumar, executive director, Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses, an NGO for social development, healthcare and de-addiction.

Perhaps the idea should be to first try things out in a model municipal ward, as Alleppey in Kerala successfully did. Says Sambyal: "Alleppey put in proper infrastructure in the model ward. The example was them replicated in other wards. In Delhi too, create a model municipal ward. Once people know how things will work, they will begin participating in waste disposal."