Use app to get household waste picked up by civic bodies

The Centre on Tuesday launched a mobile application through which people will be able to get their household waste picked up by urban municipal bodies.

People will have to pay to civic bodies to avail the service through Swachh Nagar app.

They can also track the waste-collection vehicle on the app, ensuring accountability of municipal corporations, according to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.

Launching Swachh Survekshan 2020, themed Cleanliness is Our Right, the minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the survey's major focus has always been on citizen engagement, be it through feedback or indicators involving their participation.

He said the citizen-centric focus has been enhanced substantially this year.

The minister said 24 states and more than 3,800 cities have been certified Open Defecation-Free (ODF) by now.

"More than 98 per cent of our toilet construction targets have been met. We are on track to achieve our sanitation targets," the Union housing and urban affairs minister said.

The government has set a target of making the country ODF by October 2 this year.

Talking about the Swachh Nagar app, the ministry's Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said people will be able to use the app to place a request to have solid waste, construction and demolition waste and wet waste picked up by the local civic body after making a payment.

A water plus protocol, which aims to provide a guideline for cities and towns to ensure no untreated waste water is released into the environment, enabling sustainability of the sanitation value chain, was also launched.