Public awareness, strict administration ensure cleanest city tag for Indore

By Atik Patel
Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], November 21 : As Indore bagged Swachh Survekshan award fifth time in the row for being the cleanest city in the country, the officials and public representatives credit the people of the city for taking us the initiative and contributing equally to make the city clean.
President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Award to Indore Municipal Commissioner Pratibha Pal at New Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan on Saturday.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former mayor Malini Gaur told ANI, that "In the year 2015 when I was elected as the mayor we started planning to keep the city clean. We removed big garbage containers placed in localities, empty plots and grounds and started door to door garbage collection."

"First we started it as an experiment in one ward and then it was implemented in the rest 85 wards of the entire city. As we started this programme, many types of reactions were received from different sections of society. Therefore, about 500 meetings were held with different groups, which included doctors, engineers, lawyers, traders and intellectuals apart from the people living in slum settlements," she said.
"Today the people of Indore are very aware of the issue, the credit for this success goes to the public and sanitation workers, who were engaged in cleaning the city day and night in all seasons throughout the year. Keeping the city clean has also reduced the pollution and eradicated many diseases," she added.
Gaur also added that the garbage carts of three different departments are now collecting garbage from home and commercial establishments across the city, the fee for which is also being charged from the garbage dumpers only. Along with this, two types of dustbins have been kept on the sidewalks, one for wet waste and the other for dry waste. The corporation is also taking strict action against the people and imposing fine on spot on those throwing garbage on the road.
The waste which is being collected from across the city is being recycled to make various products " like manure, gas, diesel and petrol are being made from the waste. It has also provided employment to hundreds of people including waste pickers. There is greenery on the mountain of garbage that has been formed for years. Many cities are taking inspiration from Indore," she added.
Former councillor Dilip Sharma, who is credited for establishing an ideal road in Indore, told ANI, "I thank the people of Indore and the cleaning staff for this success."

"People in the car are carrying dustbins now, they don't throw garbage on the road just like that. The ideal road we constructed is so clean that people even eat food here sitting on the road. People of this city are so aware that even a kid doesn't throw a chocolate wrapper on the road, he carries the wrapper with him till he finds a dustbin."
Further praising the current municipal commissioner Pratibha Pal for working to make the city clean even during her pregnancy, he said "I want to thank her, it would not have been easy."
"Cleanliness drive was started by former corporation commissioner Manish Singh and Malini Gaur, they put a system in place which brought us this accord for the fifth time. The cleanliness campaign did not stop even during the Covid-19 period and I am sure we will continue to receive the award in future also," he added.
"The commission has also earned almost Rs 20 crore in a year after recycling this waste into manure. We have also started making CNG from it now," Sharma added.
Indore's Food Street which is famous not only in the country but also abroad played an important role in achieving this accord. Shyam Sharma, the owner of the sweet shop in the area said, "apart from the district officials, government employees, the public and traders of Indore cooperated in keeping the city clean. We have hired employees just for cleaning, we also request our customers to put the garbage in the dustbin."
People of other cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, who visited Indore, are also praising the city's cleanliness drive and say that other cities should also take inspiration from here.
"It's just been two hours since I landed here and I think the city is very clean. People are constantly cleaning the place, it feels very nice, especially during this Covid-19 time," said Meera from Mumbai who was visiting Indore.