Rishikesh, the worst city among 300 clean cities of India, even out of it . What a shame ?
Anoop Nautiyal
Recently I saw a report by Mr. Ankit Sharma on Aaj Tak channel where the problems being faced by the common people due to the garbage heaps in Rishikesh were shown in detail. This was a very disturbing and shocking report.
Actually, a garbage dumping zone has been created here in Govind Nagar. The pile of garbage is constantly increasing. Due to the gas and stench emanating from it, people living nearby are suffering from many diseases including cancer. Many people have said in the report that people have even died due to the garbage.
While watching this report I was thinking that this is the same Rishikesh where the holy river Ganga enters the plains for the first time from the lap of the mountains. Our government claims this Rishikesh to be the yoga city of the world.
This is Rishikesh, from where the journey to the four Dhams of Uttarakhand and Hemkund Sahib begins. This is Rishikesh where people from all over the country and abroad come and enjoy rafting on the waves of the Ganges. It is really disturbing to see Rishikesh in such a bad condition due to the filth.
Apart from this report, examples of filth in Rishikesh can also be seen in the results of the Swachh Survey.
In the 2023 Swachh Survey, Rishikesh got only 3078 marks out of the 9500 marks. Rishikesh got zero marks out of the maximum 1375 marks set for a garbage free city. Rishikesh was ranked 304th among the 446 cities of the country with a population of up to 1 lakh. That is, Rishikesh city could not even be included in the initial 300 clean cities of the country.
The question arises that why is this the condition of a holy city like Rishikesh? What are the reasons for this and who is responsible for this?
The first and the biggest answer to these questions is that there is a lack of political will. Actually, there is no strong system of cleanliness in Rishikesh. Till now, there is no proper system of door to door garbage collection, nor garbage segregation, nor processing.
This is the reason why the garbage heap in Govind Nagar is growing bigger and bigger. It can be understood that the contaminated water seeping from this garbage must be going into the Ganga.
This problem is not only of Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, the situation is very bad in many other cities too.
In our recent Uttarakhand Swachh Survekshan 2023 report, which we launched on 6 December 2024, with the factual data of the Government of India, we saw that the score card of the cities of the state in the annual cleanliness test Swachh Survekshan was very worrying and disappointing.
It requires comprehensive and rapid reforms in mission mode.
Rishikesh Municipal Corporation administration should take some inspiration from the cities around it and move forward towards making the city clean.
Rudrapur may have many challenges regarding garbage but it has cleaned its legacy waste. Lessons can also be learnt from the way women’s groups in Bageshwar and Haldwani cities are doing remarkable work in the field of garbage disposal.
Joshimath Nagar Palika started a campaign to make Jugaad from Junk and earned 1 crore rupees by collecting 3 tons of garbage.
If Rishikesh Nagar Nigam wants, it can take inspiration from this and other cities of the country and state.
Despite all this, some rays of hope are visible in Rishikesh in recent times. A Waste to Wonder park has been built here recently, which is a positive step towards waste disposal to some extent. It needs to be expanded further.
It should also be expected that in the upcoming municipal elections, such people will be elected to the Municipal Corporation who give priority to the cleanliness system of the city.
If we look beyond Rishikesh, the condition of other cities in the state is also not satisfactory in terms of cleanliness.
Municipal elections are going to be held in Uttarakhand in the next two weeks. So far, the sense of urgency regarding garbage in Dehradun and the state is not visible, which should have been there in the election atmosphere.
In such a situation, it is important that cleanliness should be discussed on a large scale in all the 100 municipal bodies where elections are to be held. Candidates for the post of Mayor and Chairman of all cities and towns should present the garbage disposal road map of their cities as to how they will work towards making their cities clean after winning the elections.
On the same lines, the political parties participating in the elections must make cleanliness a major issue in their manifesto and must underline how they will work in this direction if they win the election.
