GUWAHATI: Guwahati has been labelled as one of the least clean cities in India, securing the 402nd position out of 446 Urban Local Bodies in the main category (population above one lakh) in Swachh Survekshan 2023.
The results, which were declared on Thursday by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs revealed Guwahati's consistent struggle as it has been placed towards the bottom in recent years.
The city managed to address only 46% of the daily household waste generated, with a mere 3% of total waste segregated at the source. Over 80% of residential and market areas in Guwahati were reported to be dirty on a daily basis.
Swachh Survekshan 2023 detailed the city's performance in various categories. Guwahati received only 15% in public toilet cleanliness, zero percent in waste segregation processing, and remediation of dump-sites. The cleanliness of residential and market areas received a modest 17% score each. Guwahati's overall marks amounted to 2014.40 out of 9500.
Comparatively, in 2022 and 2021, Guwahati held positions 342 and 312, respectively. Other Assam cities like Nagaon (376th), Silchar (395th), and Dibrugarh (408th) also faced scrutiny in the rankings. However, Golaghat emerged as the cleanest city in the Northeast in the 25,000-50,000 population category, while Jiribam in Manipur claimed the top spot in the less than 15,000 population category.
However, Mrigen Sarania, the Mayor of Guwahati talking to GPlus, said, "We are addressing the issue by implementing door-to-door segregation starting from April. We anticipate a significant improvement, aiming to be within the top 100 this year."
"Guwahati got 1048 marks from public in 2023 and 693 marks in 2022," added Mayor Sarania.
