| Ease of Living Index survey exposes SMC's failure | | ‘Srinagar least preferred city for living, unfit for human habitation’ | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 6: The Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has once again cut a sorry figure with ample proof of its failure in making Srinagar fit for human habitation. Ease of Living Index released on Thursday has stated that of the 49 cities ranked on livability index in the million-plus population category, Delhi ranks 13th. At the bottom of the list are Amritsar, Guwahati, Bareilly, Dhanbad and Srinagar.
Srinagar has been declared as the place with the poorest infrastructure suitable for living. The details have proven beyond doubt that Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) has failed utterly in safeguarding the city and making it a proper place to live in.
The Ease of Living Index, according to the government, is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and impact of various initiatives for urban development. More than 32 lakh people across 111 cities participated in a ‘Citizen Perception Survey’, holding a weightage of 30 per cent. It suggested creating a five-year mayoral term across India, and consolidating planning, development, housing, water, and environment activities to report to municipalities rather than state governments. As financial autonomy of cities varies by state municipal laws, the report said cities with more financial autonomy fare better in service and governance delivery.
It is pertinent to mention that the SMC has been at the centre of criticism in failing on all fronts to keep the summer capital clean and hygienic. There are even questions being raised over the corporation's inability to maintain cleanliness at the place that are the main tourist attractions in the city. “This could be the main reason that the tourism department had to step in and appeal to people to keep the Valley clean otherwise, it is not mandated for such a purpose. There is a fully fledged department for maintenance of sanitation,” said a senior official who didn’t want to be named.
Interestingly, the reports in the past came to fore that divulged in detail how the SMC authorities failed to even provide separate dustbins to people for segregation of garbage at source, as the was yet to implement Solid Waste Management Rules (SWMR).
Under SWMR, the SMC was ought to provide two separate dustbins to each household, one for biodegradable and another for non-biodegradable waste.
The non-implementation of these rules as per reports only multiplied the problems of garbage dumping, processing and its disposal.
Under SWMR, segregation is the first step towards proper disposal of both categories of waste. It is recommended to have two separate dustbins in the house to keep wet waste from mixing up with its dry counterpart. Bits of plastic, for instance, are dry waste components which if not disposed properly can become an environmental hazard.
Meanwhile, a senior official in the Urban Development Department told Early Times that several directives were issued to SMC to ensure that serious measures should be taken for the solid waste management in the city. However, the directions were ignored. |
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