The Coimbatore Corporation, which has been participating in the Central Government’s survey of ranking cities on cleanliness, is now gearing up to participate in its STAR ranking system, which starts from August 2018.
Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Government's Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has introduced STAR ranking to develop garbage-free cities.
The Ministry will rate cities based on efficiency in door-to-door collection, waste segregation at source, sweeping of public, commercial and residential areas, waste storage bins, levy of user fee, penalties, etc., compliance by bulk waste generators, scientific waste processing, redressing citizens' grievances, clean storm water drains, visible beautification of city and waste reduction.
Sources in the Corporation who are familiar with the rating system say that it is more stringent than the Swachh Survekshan ranking and the civic body will have to do some real hard work to get even the three star level, which involves 100% door-to-door collection of waste, at least 80% segregation of waste at source and 100% sweeping on a daily basis of public, commercial and residential areas.
If the Corporation were to make claims, a third-party agency appointed by the Ministry will independently verify the claims through extensive field visits.
Likewise, the agency will also interact with a cross section of citizens.
Only on verification and satisfactory compliance of the parameters, will the Ministry issue the three-star rating, the sources say and add that the certification is valid for only a year, though. Thereafter the Corporation will have to apply afresh.
For bagging one star or two star, the Corporation can declare the city straight away as no inspection is involved. But as it goes further – three star to seven star – there is verification at every level. If during the inspection the Corporation's claims do not match the situation on ground, the rating agency will downgrade the rating.
Given the situation on ground in the city, the sources say, achieving the three star rating will be similar to reaching the stars for the civic body, which is yet to satisfactorily implement 100% door-to-door waste collection and reach at least 80% source segregation.
To begin with, the Corporation will have to provide more small goods carrier for door-to-door collection as it will help replace workers, who then can be deployed for sweeping and drain cleaning.
Senior officials familiar with the development say work is on to assess the strengths and weaknesses and fulfil the gaps.
