As a child we were always taught to maintain hygiene and cleanliness around us ,but as we grew up, unfortunately ,topics of “hygiene and cleanliness” have become bush -league for a majority of population as a matter of fact the government have to consciously and officially put its head and soul into it ,with this now you know we are talking about the great initiative by government of India “THE SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN” – a movement to improve the hygiene , sanitation and cleanliness status of India thus making an initiative to reduce the health issues caused by poor sanitation and cleanliness around. To give this movement a good a kick start , government introduced Swachh Bharat Survekshan which enables government to measure and celebrate the success of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan .Through survekshan(survey), India gets to know about the status of its cleanliness measurable in terms of different cities , and with this result, India consistently for 4 years got the same city standing upfront as the cleanest city in India -“Indore” .It would be absurd and unfair if we talk about Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and not put a reference of Indore in it .Indore besides being known as “food city ” have also established it’s mark for being called as “cleanest city of India”,now knowing so ,a question of curiosity always come up to the mind “how Indore is holding up to this position and what does the citizens do as their part to maintain its head up”
Indore after being awarded with “cleanliness mark ” in the year 2016, the city have put it out loud to its motto “INDORE RAHEGA NUMBER 1” and with this till now ,the citizens are giving their best to maintain the motto and are no doubt celebrating the success , the citizens of Indore have become used to in keeping up with cleanliness and proper sanitation around ,they now don’t have to consciously make effort to maintain cleanliness , instead it became their part of habit to do so .Everyday a garbage collecting van moves around the city from colony to colony ,house to house to collect the garbage bags ,people at household level have started segregating their dry and wet waste ,also to maintain this position of Indore ,people there have raised their awareness towards waste management ,plastic bags disposition management and sewage line cleanliness
At every streets ,apart from the 3 basic dustbins, at the times of COVID 19 , it has put into use 4th type of dustbins for disposition of used masks and gloves ,no doubt apart from citizens ,Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) have played symbolic role in achieving the results ,since the year 2016 ,IMC have pulled off all garbage dumps from the city ,it further ensured proper utilisation of recyclable waste like paper ,plastic bottles ,food and beverages can, also it successfully ensured conversion of organic waste into compost and bio gas,which can be further used for good of city , also the non recyclable waste were sent to cement plant at Neemuch and to MP Rural Road Development Corporation to develop rural roads.Initially ,it was challenging for IMC to convince people segregate waste at household level but eventually with patience and consistent attitude of public problem solving it convinced people to do .It was the proper planning and implementation of IMC that Indore is enjoying its reward of cleanliness and hygiene ,Under this program , IMC keep the road track of all the garbage vans from household to its final destination and made sure all the personnel and staff working with it ensures timely and sincere services .Indore have managed to keep up with around 35,000 plus homes where home composting is followed and have 16 zero waste colonies where waste are utilized within the colony . Also along with it ,the city have started to re-utilize sewage treated water for gardening activities .No doubt , Indore have never compromised on its part with cleanliness and sanitation ,even at the time of COVID 19 outbreak people were educated to maintain separate bin for gloves and masks and workers were trained to work with full safety and equipment in tough time. With this ,we can definitely say Indore have set standards for cleanliness to be followed ,and have given other cities a layout to work upon .
It’s not about any city ,it’s about people who choose to make change ,who choose to live a better life .If government brings in something for the society good ,it also sets a responsibility to the society to give a part for its own good . As Mahatma Gandhi once said “Cleanliness is Next to Godliness” , lets fit this up to our mind before we start our day , let’s just ensure we are keeping our house , streets and cities as clean as temples because “god is everyone “and thus everything needs to be kept clean.
