Areas entrusted with functions of urban planning to be included in Swachh Survekshan-2020

The government has decided to include all areas, which are entrusted with the functions of urban planning, regulations and development function akin to Statutory Urban local Bodies, in Swachh Survekshan - 2020.

An official statement by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said that it has been decided to include all areas, which are notified Planning, Special Area Development Authority or Urban Development Authority or any such Authority under State or Central legislations, which is entrusted with the functions of urban planning, regulations and development function akin to Statutory Urban local Bodies for all purposes including sanitation, in Swachh Survekshan - 2020.

Urban Development Authority bodies like Industrial Estate Townships like Noida, Greater Noida, Jamshedpur or Bokaro Steel City, Port Area Development Authority, SADA for a specific purpose, will be included in the category where there is no statutory urban local body, for instance, Amravati Development Authority. A separate category of such cities has been created for evaluation under Swachh Survekshan-2020.

The parameters for evaluation of these townships which do not have a statutory urban local body (ULB) will remain the same as applicable to the ULBs or Cantonment Boards with some modifications.

A separate National Workshop for these Urban Townships will be organised in the second week of October to explain the methodology of Swachh Survekshan - 2020 for this category.

The Government has directed all concerned authorities of such townships to sensitise them about their coverage in Swachh Survekshan - 2020 and to appoint a nodal officer for each such township for this purpose.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is implementing Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Urban with the goal to make the country clean and open defecation free. To monitor the progress of this mission, Swachh Survekshan - an annual cleanliness survey was initiated in 2016 for evaluating 73 Urban ULBs and it has now been scaled up to all 4,378 ULBs and all Cantonment Boards of India.

The Swachh Survekshan has proved to be an effective monitoring and governance tool in ascertaining the progress made by the cities towards cleanliness and citizen engagement.