Aafrin Kidwai Heaps of garbage along NOIDA’s roads and drains are drawing the ire of local residents and activists, who complain that Noida Authorities have failed to take action despite repeated complaints.
Admittedly, scenes of garbage piled along roads and drains are not unusual in India. What makes this case stand out, however, is that recently Noida’s rank was upgraded from one star to three stars by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in its list of garbage-free cities (GFC).
Ashish Sachdeva of Green Dream Foundation, which shot this video (above) and circulated it via social media told SolidWasteIndia, “In June, MoHUA upgraded NOIDA’s rank for its solid waste management system to three stars from the one-star rating it had awarded in the Swacch Survekshan the previous month. This was the first time that Noida participated in the rating exercise that looked into 25 key parameters on waste management. At present, it is the highest-rated among the six cities in Uttar Pradesh that participated in the survey that was conducted in October last year. However, locals in this area do not feel any change as such and have been reporting a lot of issues related to the basics of waste management and sanitation.”
Interestingly, NOIDA Authority has begun preparations for Swacch Survekshan 2021. From August 1 onwards, waste segregation at source was made mandatory and the Authority announced that only segregated garbage would be picked up from residential areas in vehicles with separate dry, wet, and hazardous waste compartments. An appeal was also made by NOIDA Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari to residents to segregate waste in order to minimize the impact of domestic waste on the environment and contribute to making the city clean.
Says Sachdeva, “The municipal corporations must look at deploying inclusive and integrated waste management solutions. The typical approach of hiring contractors for different steps in the waste management process is not going to work. Local communities and NGOs must be involved to address this on a war footing.”
Video Credit: Green Dream Foundation
