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Time of India
2 days ago
- General
- Time of India
₹1,000 cr down the drain, as Chennai's public toilets still stink
City corporation's Singara Chennai dream has been drowned by stench. Even after more than ₹1,000 crore was spent to clean public toilets, they remain stinky, dirty and in a ramshackle state. Now, Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) plans to pump in another 1,000 crore for the same failed cause. In order to clean, maintain and build 10,000 public toilet seats in the city across 1,260 locations, the GCC spent 620 crore under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in the last five years, and another 430 crore was spent to privatise toilets in two zones -- Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar — and partly Marina in a nine-year privatisation deal. This apart, they spent around 50 crore to build and maintain mobile toilets, e-toilets, and Singara Chennai's 'Oppanai Araai's toilets. A field visit by TOI, however, showed the money has gone down the drain. You Can Also Check: Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai In Anna Nagar, a 10-storey SBM toilet that once existed, and still shows on Google Maps, is now missing. Another toilet in Tower Park has no door on the women's side, just a pink curtain, and it reeks of urine. At the SBM toilet outside Rajarathinam Stadium in Egmore, the floor is filthy and no staff was present to monitor the seats. None of these facilities had CCTV, although it is required under GCC's tender rules. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Benefits of Trading Bitcoin CFDs IC Markets Learn More Undo In the Adyar zone alone, the GCC spent about 1.6 crore within six months from Feb to maintain toilets. Yet, the toilets remained shut and the commode was plastered with cement. In a nearby location, on Indira Nagar fourth main road, the e-toilet marked on Google Maps was removed five months ago. At Apparao Gardens in Aminjikarai, a two-decade-old public toilet stands crumbling with its floor lined with water-filled holes, and a stray dog resting on a toilet seat. One of the walls is cracked and looks ready to fall. "This toilet has been such as this for as long as I can remember," says Padmini, a resident living nearby. "Using a restroom should be a peaceful experiance, not something where you worry if something will fall on your head. " The GCC has not enforced any of its key-performance indicators such as cleanliness, CCTVs, water supply, presence of staff, ramps, and proper sewage outfalls. Not has it blacklisted any of its contractors, including Dr RSB Infra who handles privatisation in Royapuram and Thiru Vi Ka Nagar zones. In these zones, the GCC inflated maintenance costs per seat from 3.18 per seat to 364, which was 300-times the cost of toilets maintained in popular private firms. DMK councillors too have flagged GCC's poor maintenance of toilets. In the council, accounts committee chairman K Dhanasekaran admitted that the corporation lacked both adequate funds and technical expertise to design and maintain toilets. While existing toilets are poor, there are no toilets at all in popular public spaces like Guindy and Koyambedu. The mobile toilet buses launched by mayor R Priya last year are nowhere to be seen. Ignoring the glaring scams, lack of enforcement on the six-month shorter contracts and nine-year contracts as well, officials continue to bank on nine-year contracts as a permanent solution. "The nine-year privatisation is one of the first corporation-funded toilet privatisation models in India," said PV Srinivasan, superintending engineer of special projects. Yet, GCC is sitting on this 1,243 crore privatisation deal for 13 zones for nearly two years now. On the delay, mayor Priya said that bringing in high-quality private toilets is a tedious approval process. "The special projects team first identifies the sites. These are then inspected for structural stability, and finally sent to the council for approval. This takes time," she said. She said the corporation is speeding up approvals and implementation. "Work is underway for the rest of the 13 zones and when these toilets are operational, they will be of a good quality," she said. Though tenders have been awarded to three contractors, work is yet to start anywhere and the six-month contracts continue to be in place. Officials promise works will be finished by Dec 2026.
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Business Standard
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
FTA with UK adds strength to India's hand in other deals: Sunil Mittal
Soon after India and the United Kingdom (UK) signed the free trade agreement (FTA) on Thursday, industry leaders cheered the move. Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises and co-chair of the India-UK CEO Forum, and Chandrajit Banerjee, director general, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), who were in Chequers (near London) for the FTA signing as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's entourage, spoke to Nivedita Mookerji on the various aspects of the deal. Edited excerpts from a Zoom conversation: Who's the biggest winner in this FTA? Sunil Bharti Mittal (SBM): It's a win win for both sides with a balanced outcome after a very long and hard negotiation…. I think you will now see a lot of British companies getting much more confident about investing in India, working in India, setting up their bases in our country. The Prime Minister spoke today of taking the bilateral trade from $56 billion to $112 billion in five years—It's an ambitious target, but achievable, given the way this FTA has been set up. So I would say it's hard for FTAs to be agreed. Your 'asks' and their 'gives', their 'asks' and our 'gives'--there's always a resistance on both sides…. But over here, you don't see any major resistance, finally, because both have come to an agreement which is balanced. Chandrajit Banerjee (CB): There are many sectors from the Indian side which will benefit. From both manufacturing as well as services. But if you see some of the critical sectors, like textiles and apparels, that opens up a huge market. In the pharma sector also, we are getting huge opportunities. The small and the mid size companies across the engineering area as well as auto components will also gain. Plus, the labour intensive sectors like leather and footwear will benefit due to the increased access to the UK market. Will there be a ripple effect of the UK agreement on the US deal that is in the works? SBM: I think closing of this deal is important for India. It does add strength to India's hand. But the US is altogether different. It's the largest market in the world,… It's good to have this one out of the way. Now you will have one less trade deal to work on and the negotiators will be able to concentrate more on the next one. The one with the EU is expected to be done in the next few weeks or months. As for the US, some interim deal should be done. It's easy for you and I to discuss it here, but there are new developments in the US on a daily basis. CB: In some ways, the UK FTA is a signal to the world that India has been entering into large number of trade agreements with different countries, both in the eastern hemisphere and now in the western hemisphere, and the Indian industry is competitive. It also shows that India provides not just opportunities to companies to come and participate in the Indian economy in terms of investments, but our companies themselves are investing strongly in other economies…. So, this is indicative of balance of power. Mr Mittal, there's a full chapter on telecom in the deal. Any significance? SBM: Well, I'm delighted to see that chapter, as you can imagine. Both countries will be having open doors for telecom in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI). As you know, Vodafone had 100 per cent in India…. What the FTA will do is to take the agreed position to a hard wired position. Do you think this deal will help in the making of global brands? Hasn't that been a gap for the Indian industry? SBM: I would say yes…. You have to have large corporations first, and then you go global. That's been the norm world over. And the western world has had that privilege for decades, because they became rich much before us. I think India is on that path now, and you will start to see Indian MNCs emerging on the global stage. Tatas have already been there with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and others. I think we can count ourselves (Airtel) as that. There are a few other companies which are on that path to some extent--Godrej, Mahindras, for example. For your group, what does this deal mean? SBM: It validates what we've been doing for so many years in sectors such as telecom, real estate and hospitality. We also have the satellite deal—OneWeb--with the British government. So this just strengthens our hand to do more between the two countries. Perhaps, we can pick up some technologies here that we can take back to India and use the technology back home in the Indian market, which is much bigger. We remain agile. We are looking at opportunities. But today, I stand in front of you as the co-chair of the Indian business leaders' delegation, the CEO forum, and my job is to work on the larger piece. In this capacity, I have to see that Indian industry and the British business leadership can combine their minds to take our trade to the level that has been set by the two partners. What are your thoughts on utilisation of trade deals? In many cases, we've seen that we are not able to utilise the deals that are signed. How can the industry help? SBM: This is a rare opportunity where both sides can gain from combining strengths of each other. There's high degree of complementarity between the two nations. And that really makes a very strong, powerful platform, or a bridge, if I may say, between the two countries. You're right that not all trade deals result in tremendous amount of uptick in trade and services or investment. I think this is different. In this case, I feel in the first year itself, as soon as this treaty is ratified, we will see the direction of trade going up in the upwards trajectory. CB: This trade agreement is designed to work for both countries, be it for bilateral investment or bilateral trade. Whether it's small or mid-sized companies, technology, education or anything else, we (India-UK business forum) can form different groups and see to it that we are able to identify the enablers. So there should be possibilities of constructive ways of working towards taking advantage of this trade agreement. Is there anything in this FTA that you think could have been done better? Any gaps? SBM: Well, there's always something that one feels could have been better. Some parts of the industry may feel that certain things could have been better handled. But by and large, I don't think there is any reason to complain. There may be somebody unhappy out there, but, you know, in a trade deal of this nature, it is rare to get to a win win situation like the one we are seeing in this one. What is the overall mood of the industry? SBM: Very good. Industry is very upbeat. CB: I think what we have seen is an amazing partnership between the government and the industry. I think that collaborative framework is going to be a key factor as we move ahead, when industry is taken along and consulted. That collaboration should work to see that FTAs are working in a win win way.
Hans India
6 days ago
- Health
- Hans India
Swachh Bharat Mission: India's sanitation drive shows strong gains
New Delhi: India's sanitation landscape continues to evolve under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), with significant infrastructure gains across both rural and urban areas. According to a written reply in the Lok Sabha given by Minister of State for Jal Shakti, V. Somanna, the country has constructed over 11.9 crore individual household latrines (IHHLs) and 2.6 lakh community sanitary complexes (CSCs) under SBM-Grameen since 2014. Uttar Pradesh leads with more than 2.5 crore IHHLs, followed by Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. In urban areas, SBM-Urban and its second phase have added 63.78 lakh household toilets and 6.36 lakh public and community toilet seats, with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh among the top contributors. However, the report highlights persistent challenges in maintaining community facilities. Many CSCs suffer from poor upkeep due to unclear ownership, lack of dedicated funds, and limited awareness. Despite this, Gram Panchayats in several states are innovating—linking toilets to local businesses and conducting awareness campaigns to improve sustainability. The government has released substantial Central funds to support sanitation efforts -- Rs 28,849 crore in 2014–15 under SBM-G, peaking at Rs 21,629 crore in 2018–19, and Rs 3,622 crore in 2024–25. SBM-U has seen Rs 1,892 crore released in 2024–25, with additional allocations under the revised SNA-Sparsh model. The Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2023–24 survey, covering over 17,000 villages and 2.6 lakh households, found that 95.1 per cent of rural households have access to toilets, while 78.7 per cent have arrangements for greywater disposal. Yet, only 39.9 per cent segregate waste, and 29.4 per cent of villages have proper waste storage sheds. In terms of infrastructure, 61.4 per cent of Plastic Waste Management Units (PWMUs) and 58.5 per cent of GOBARdhan biogas plants were found functional. Urban sanitation surveys show that 4,692 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) are certified ODF, with 1,973 achieving ODF++ status and 214 certified Water+. The government aims to sustain ODF status and promote solid and liquid waste management under SBM-G Phase II. Financial assistance of up to Rs 60 per capita is available for villages under 5,000 population, and Rs 45 for larger ones. Each block is expected to have at least one PWMU, with Rs 16 lakh allocated per unit. The mission's next phase will focus on behaviour change, technological innovation, and inclusive sanitation planning to ensure long-term impact.
The Hindu
7 days ago
- General
- The Hindu
Takeaways from the Swachh Survekshan
Rankings and celebrations apart, the ninth edition of Swachh Survekshan, branded as the world's largest cleanliness survey, provides policy makers and city managers a reality check on urban sanitation and waste management, and a reliable database. The annual survey steered by Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)-Urban had not only over 4,500 cities competing, compared to less than 100 in 2016, but was also backed by elaborate assessments and third party verification and further bolstered by feedback from 140 million city dwellers. From segregation, collection, transportation, and management of waste to the welfare of sanitation workers and grievance redressal, the 10 parameters of the survey are comprehensive. The survey has emerged as an effective driver of competition and movement in city sanitation. It also provides a measure of the gaps in India's journey towards clean cities. Different population sizes The advent of Super Swachh League this year was an overdue twist to break the stalemate at the top of the rankings. Indore, Surat, and Navi Mumbai — all mascots of cleanliness for a while — entered this new space along with 20 other cities of different population sizes. Members of the League could create new benchmarks and compete among themselves while yielding space to new aspirants to enter clean city ranks. That is how Ahmedabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow could break into the top as India's cleanest cities this time in the million-plus category, with another 12 receiving ranks in their own population segments. Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 appeared focused on faster democratisation of city cleanliness. The expansion of population categories from two to five, starting from cities with a population of less than 20,000 to those with a million-plus population, provided a fairer platform for cities to perform. Those hitherto lagging are now catching up. Odisha is an example. Bhubaneswar moved up from the 34th to the 9th rank; small towns such as Aska and Chikiti worked their way to the top three clean cities in their categories; and mid-size cities including Rourkela, Cuttack, and Berhampur moved considerably upwards. These trends create hope that cleanliness is not a preserve of only certain States. Cities from the south are yet to make any big mark in the clean city show with Bengaluru being the least inspirational. Hyderabad, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Mysuru were the best in the region. The National Capital Region presents an interesting medley: while the New Delhi Municipal Council areas and Noida ranked best for meticulous sanitation implementation, Delhi, Gurugram, and Ghaziabad improved their ranks irrespective of the negative reports they received in the public domain. The clean city basket has grown larger since one promising clean city was picked up from each State based on its progress and potential. Once cities are positively stamped, they tend to stay in the aspirational course. Understood this way, the 78 Swachh awards given were not too many. Setting up the cleanest cities as mentors to the most underperforming ones could help in the proliferation of multiple good practices among urban local bodies (ULBs). While Indore is a veteran in segregating the last gram of waste into six buckets at source — dry, wet, domestic hazardous, plastic, sanitary and e-waste; Surat has been making good revenue by selling sewage-treated water. Pune's waste management is anchored on cooperatives formed by ragpickers. Visakhapatnam made an eco-park from remediated legacy waste site. Lucknow produced an iconic waste wonder park. The Kuberpur area in Agra, once a toxic dumpsite, transformed to 47 acres of green, by engaging bioremediation and biomining technologies. Tourist destinations and places of high footfall received special emphasis in the survey. Prayagraj was awarded in the category of Ganga towns, and special recognition was extended to the recent Maha Kumbh for its sanitation management. India accounts for less than 1.5% of international tourist arrivals. Cities need to do much more than an occasional cleanliness drive to enhance tourist experience. The theme this year The theme of 'reduce, reuse, and recycle (RRR)', advocated by the 2025 survey, carries the prospect of jobs, enterprise, and invigoration of self-help groups. The theme of the last survey was 'waste to wealth'. We are yet to raise the billions of rupees out of waste that is possible. For this, policy needs to better incentivise investors. Waste-to-energy plants are gaining traction but the private sector may be concerned about commercial viability. Citizens are yet to take meaningful action even though the RRR approach is entrenched in India's ancient traditions. While a universal resentment against open defecation has been achieved by SBM, a behaviour change movement fostering intolerance against waste and fighting against consumerism has been tough to initiate. As more cities get identified as hubs of growth, we must prioritise the management of 1.5 lakh tonnes of solid waste generated every day. A lot will depend on delivery at decentralised levels, especially by ULBs in enforcing segregation, collection, transport, and processing, including of the more challenging plastic and e-waste. The business of waste management in cities may look chaotic, but it remains possible. The rise of Surat from being a place of garbage three decades ago to the top place in the sanitation chart last year shows that this is a possibility in all cities in India. Akshay Rout, Former Director General, Swachh Bharat Mission.
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Not so swachh: MCG, MCM among 81 civic bodies in Haryana that fudged waste data
Gurgaon: After the Swachh Survekshan results were declared on July 17, city residents spoke about alleged data manipulation. They asked how Gurgaon could improve its rankings from 140 last year to 41 this year despite construction debris and garbage strewn across the roads and public places. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now It has come to light now among 's 87 municipalities, 81 local bodies — including NCR cities Gurgaon, Faridabad and Manesar — provided inaccurate information by claiming 100% door-to-door waste collection during the survey. Several urban local bodies (ULBs) recorded less than 60% coverage, with some falling below 40%. According to the data accessed by TOI, significant discrepancies were found between reported and actual door-to-door waste collection coverage across several cities in Haryana. Gurgaon's claim of 100% doorstep collection contrasted sharply with the actual survey finding of 59% coverage. commissioner Pradeep Dahiya told TOI, "We will probe the matter and a report will be sought from the nodal officer of Swachh Bharat Mission. We will submit it to the directorate and wait for their review on the same." In the backdrop of the revelations, Haryana ULB department has written to all municipalities, highlighting such "significant misreporting" indicates serious negligence, stemming from either oversight failures or intentional data falsification. The letter, sent on July 19 to the municipalities, also says this behaviour "damages the state's reputation" and affects its position in national Swachh Survekshan rankings. The department has instructed municipalities to levy penalties on agencies that have misrepresented facts in their door-to-door waste collection and waste transportation services data on the Swachh portal. The department mandates issuing show-cause notices to the respective SBM nodal officers of these ULBs. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Report within 7 days Both deputy municipal commissioners and municipal commissioners must submit a detailed factual report to headquarters within seven days, including recommendations for issuing chargesheets against relevant officials under applicable service regulations, read the letter. The communication also revealed that while most Haryana ULBs reported 100% doorstep waste collection coverage on the SBM portal, independent assessment for Swachh Survekshan in 2024 showed considerably lower figures. The ULB department instructed commissioners and deputy municipal commissioners to submit their findings on this matter by July 26. The data inconsistencies extended to other cities as well. Manesar's reported 100% coverage was found to be only 72% in reality. Faridabad's claim of 100% coverage was contradicted by ground surveys showing only 35% actual coverage, revealing a substantial 65% gap. Similarly, Nuh's claim of complete coverage was discovered to be just 54%. Palwal and Panchkula demonstrated actual coverage rates of 57% and 61% respectively, despite claiming 100%. The surveys also revealed Rewari achieving 73% coverage, while Bhiwani registered 48%. "This gross misreporting reflects a grave dereliction of duty either due to supervisory failure or deliberate data manipulation. It tarnishes the image of the state, undermines our ranking in national assessments and jeopardises funding and credibility under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 Urban," read the letter sent by the ULB to the municipalities on Saturday. However, several cities demonstrated commendable performance in waste collection services. Karnal's reported 100% coverage was largely accurate, with surveys confirming 98% implementation. Panipat and Samalkha achieved impressive 99% coverage, whilst Rohtak reached 96%. Ganaur's claim of 100% coverage was fully validated by the ground survey. Among the cities that performed well, Karnal also submitted 100% doorstep waste collection coverage and the survey found it to be 98% on the ground. Panipat and Samalkha got 99%, Rohtak got 96%, and Ganaur's claim matched with the survey at 100%.
