Swachh Bharat team cites Vizag as example for maintaining cleanliness

The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is slowly gaining appreciation as it strives to improve the city’s ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2020. The official account of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), tweeted, “Vizag in Andhra Pradesh has become an example of how cleanliness should be maintained in a city, with dedicated efforts of the Municipal authorities and citizens as one”. In response, the GVMC Commissioner, Gummalla Srijana, thanked for the acknowledgement. 

Retweeting the Swachh Bharat Mission’s message, the Andhra Pradesh Government Advisor, S Rajiv Krishna, congratulated the GVMC team led by G Srijana for this recognition. 

Launched as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, by the Government of India, Swachh Survekshan is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India. Every year, a four-step survey will be held on aspects including the Open Defecation Free (ODF) tag and the Star rating of garbage-free cities. Each city will be awarded a score out of 5000 marks, through Direct Observation, Service Level Progress, Citizen Feedback and Certification. 

Keeping in line with the mission, the GVMC has appealed to Visakhapatnam citizens to offer feedback on the municipality’s work. It has invited Vizagites to register their votes by calling the toll-free number ‘1969’ or via the Swachhta web application. On 9 January, 2020, the city topped the charts in the Citizen Feedback category.

Furthermore, the municipal body has been taking necessary measures across Vizag as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The officials are conducting several activities including beach cleaning campaigns, sweeping of roads, desilting of drains, awareness about door to door garbage collection, and source segregation. Recognising the efforts, Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) had earlier tweeted, “In a bid to keep the city clean and make their city “Number 1” in the upcoming Swachh Survekshan 2020, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation is organising various cleanliness drives and awareness rallies”. 

On Saturday, a team from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) will be visiting Visakhapatnam. As GVMC is competing for a 5-star rating, under the survey, the Ministry representatives will be rating the city based on multiple cleanliness indicators such as solid waste management and plastic waste management.