Guwahati, May 12 : Guwahati, the largest city in Northeast and Assam capital, needs to tidy up its act if it wants to catch up with its next door neighbor Shillong or even distant Agartala in matters of cleanliness.
This is the message which has emerged from the cleanliness ratings announced yesterday by Union minister for urban affairs S. Jaipal Reddy in New Delhi.
Guwahati is placed at the 59th spot in the list of 443 cities and towns, which were rated by the ministry under the National Urban Sanitation Policy.
In contrast, the Meghalaya capital, Shillong, is at a healthy 18th, justifying its reputation as one of the most favoured tourist destinations in the Northeast. Even Agartala is ranked above Guwahati and placed 44th.
The wellbeing of Guwahati — known for large mounds of garbage festering by the roadside for days — is looked after by the Guwahati development department, led by minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, whose health department is already under the scanner with more and more doctors choosing to opt for VRS.
Of the 443 cities and towns covered in the ratings, the Northeast was represented by 10 cities, including six from Assam.
Chandigarh tops the list followed by Mysore and Surat while Churu in Rajasthan is placed at the bottom.
The other places of the Northeast in the list are Jorhat at 74th position, Imphal at 109th, Aizawl at 111th, Dibrugarh at 162nd, Tinsukia at 164th, Silchar at 217th and Nagaon at 305th.
Official sources said the rating was carried out by three agencies — AC Nielsen-ORG Marg, Development and Research Services (DRS) and CEPT University — which were selected through open bidding.
The data collection was carried out between December 2009 and March 2010 and was then scrutinized in April this year by a team of experts.
The results were communicated to the state governments as part of consultations and presented to the national advisory group on urban sanitation, the apex body, which oversees implementation of the policy.
Anurag Goel, the commissioner of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, expressed disappointment over the ratings. “The city deserved a better position. Better than Agartala, perhaps,” he said.
He felt that Shillong’s “westernised culture among the people was instrumental in keeping the city clean” but hoped that “some new initiatives taken by the Assam government would help Guwahati move higher in the ratings”.
The chairperson of the Agartala Municipal Council, Shankar Das, echoed Goel. He said he had expected the Tripura capital to be placed “higher, at least in the first 30”.
He also expressed hope that Agartala would do better when the next survey is carried out.
For the ratings, the country was divided into five zones — north; south; west; east and northeast and central and south central.
Each city was rated on 19 indicators, which were divided into three categories: output with 50 points, process with 30 and outcome with 20.
Based on the results of the rating, the best performers will be presented the Nirmal Shahar Puruskar.
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