Govt to announce launch of cleanliness survey for next yr

The government will announce the launch of a cleanliness survey to be conducted next year as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) later this week, according to an official statement.

The Swachh Survekshan 2019 is proposed to be conducted from January 4 to 31, which would encourage "large scale" citizen participation ensuring sustainability of initiatives taken towards garbage-free and open defecation-free cities.

According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the survey will provide "credible outcomes" which will be validated by third party certification.

It stated that Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri will launch the survey involving ODF plus and ODF Plus Plus Protocol.

It also stated that the SBM ODF Plus and SBM ODF Plus Plus protocols that are planned to be launched are geared towards this objective.

"While the SBM ODF Plus protocol focuses on sustaining community/pubic toilet usage by ensuring their functionality, cleanliness and maintenance, the SBM ODF Plus Plus will focus on achieving sanitation sustainability by addressing complete sanitation value chain, including safe containment, processing and disposal of fecal sludge and septage," it stated.

Besides, the 'Ease of Living Index' will also be launched along with an 'Ease of Living Index' dashboard.

"Apart from presenting the overall national ranking of 111 cities, the dashboard will present ranking of the cities across pillars, category, geographical zone and population classifications," it added.

"The Ease of Living assessment standards are closely linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and will provide a strong impetus to India's effort for systematic tracking progress of SDGs in the urban areas," it also added.