Sneak Behind The Cleanest City In India
I hail from the city which is woven together by the Chanderi, pieced together by a rich Holkar heritage and held together by the belief that glutton isn’t a sin! I am a resident of Indore, the financial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Indore has sweeped its streets and the records by winning the title of the “Cleanest City In India”, according to the Swachh Survekshan, 4 times in a row now! The Swachh Survekshan launched under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is the biggest Cleanliness Survey of the world, which covers a total of 4242 cities of India.
I remember how on the way to my favourite picnic spot in the outskirts, I used to encounter a huge stinking hill made of trash, which was actually a heap of plastic garbage dumped from the city in a landfill. Last I saw that heap was 4 years ago. In 2017, Indore was practically choking on its plastic waste, producing over 400 tonnes of plastic waste out of the total 1100 tonnes of waste generated daily. Indore Municipal Corporation turned this menace that was shaking the core of the city to a boon by using this plastic in construction of the city’s literal foundation — the roads. This revolutionary idea was proposed by Professor Rajagopalan Vasudevan from Madurai and was adopted by a few Municipal Corporations in India. Indore has been recycling 50 percent of its plastic waste as of now. The plastic waste is collected in Plastic Collecting Centers where the waste is shredded and then mixed with tar. The roads made out of this combination are eco friendly as they minimize the usage of tar, and also are resistant to water stagnation. Along with that, Indore Municipal Corporation has also banned usage of Plastic carry bags under 50 microns.
The gourmet city is adorned with Chaat Thelas (carts) that cover every nook and cranny of the town. Now, each Thela is accessorized by the compulsory placement of a garbage bin where dry waste is separated from wet waste. Try dropping your plastic plate outside the bin. Your act will be met with an instant jibe from the vendor as well as the bypassers as the sentiment of cleanliness has now become strongly ingrained in the collective consciousness of people.
In the legendary epic of Pied Piper from Hamelin, the Pied Piper drove all the rats out of the town by mesmerizing them to his melodious tunes. I couldn’t help myself from drawing its parallel to Indore, where each morning of ours begins with the mesmerizing voice of Shaan singing the Cleanliness Anthem, “Ho halla”, emanating from local Pick-Up trucks that systematically take away the segregated waste from every residence and commercial area. The policies adopted by IMC such as waste segregation, sustainable construction and plastic reduction aren’t entirely novel. What sets these policies apart is the vigour induced by every resident who identifies with the value of Cleanliness and takes up the personal responsibility to contribute towards making their city eco friendly and clean.
