SHILLONG: A day after Shillong was ranked the sixth dirtiest among 382 Indian cities with population under 10 lakh, Urban Affairs Minister Hamletson Dohling has called the assessment as “incorrect” as does not reflect the tangible improvement the state capital has witnessed in solid waste management in the recent years.
Soon after the report was published, a thorough introspection was made by the Department of Urban Affairs and the Shillong Municipal Board on Friday, before Dohling termed the report as “very unfortunate” that the Capital City of Shillong was ranked very low in terms of cleanliness according to the nationwide survey, Swachh Survekshan 2020.
“To simply categorise Shillong as one of the dirtiest cities in the country is therefore an incorrect assessment,” he said.
Explaining the parameters of evaluation, Dohling said that the ranking was based largely on four parameters consisting of certification, service levels, direct observation and citizen feedback, adding that the Shillong Municipal Board scored very well in the service level parameter which carries 1500 marks.
“The scoring was based on the data which was taken from the MIS uploaded by the SMB on the Swachh Bharat Mission portal every quarter of last year. There are, however, a few indicators in this parameter in which the SMB did not score well, namely the processing and disposal indicators as the infrastructure for processing and sanitary land-fill was still under construction,” the Minister said.
He said that in the certification parameter which carries total marks of 1500, also the SMB did not score well as it is yet to be a certified Garbage Free City even as he added in the absence of a sewerage system which is a legacy issue, the city scored low in the sustainable sanitation indicator as well.
“In spite of the ranking the City had gone through a significant improvement in terms of cleanliness. Shillong was the first City in the Country to have practiced segregation at source, with over 70% households in the city complying since 2015-16, even before the SWM Rules 2016) had made segregation mandatory for all,” he said.
Dohling also said that the state is also among the firsts to do away with intermediate storage of waste (community bins) in residential localities, where door to door collection of waste is being carried out.
On the processing and disposal, the minister said that the installation of 170 tons per day compost plant and 8500 sq.m. of sanitary landfill are almost completed. In addition, the government has also notified the Meghalaya Solid Waste Management Policy, he said.
The Minister lamented that there was a lack of participation by the citizens of the city in the survey conducted through the MyGov app for their feedback which also resulted in a loss of about 1500 marks out of 6000.