The race between cities to be counted among India's cleanest cities is going to get hotter.
Even as 4,203 cities and towns are waiting to see who will be the toppers in the survey of Swachh Sarvekshan 2018 (cleanest cities in 2018), garbage strewn across pavements and in street corners in major parts of our metros and towns points to a problem of people who could not care less and unabashedly throw their waste anywhere.
The number of cities contesting for this survey has gone up from 434 in 2017. It was just 73 cities in the first survey done in 2016.
And to add further impetus to the survey of the cleanest cities, the ministry of housing and urban affairs has launched a star-rating protocol for garbage-free cities.
People shamelessly throwing litter all over as well as collection of garbage apparently are the vexing problems in our Swachh Bharat Abhiyan!
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Tuesday took pride in the principles of 'reduce, reuse and recycle' being an integral part of Indian culture, wherein people preserved biodiversity and promoted sustainable living from ancient times.
And Hardeep Puri, minister of state with independent charge of housing and urban affairs, affirmed the government's commitment to moving towards 100 per cent scientific solid waste management under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mahajan, who addressed the inaugural ceremony of the eighth Regional 3R Forum, reminded the participating mayors and the municipal commissioners that they have special responsibility of maintaining the cleanliness of their cities. She emphasised on the active participation of the people to achieve the goals of 'swachhta' and sustainable development.
Puri said his ministry was promoting scientific processing of waste, using the principles of 3R, and actively engaging in behaviour-change initiatives, including messaging through both traditional mass media and interpersonal communications.
The government is building awareness on waste segregation at source at the household level as well as bulk waste generators and promoting composting options.