Governance
Swachh Nagar App
- 14 Aug 2019
- 4 min read
Recently, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has launched the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2020’, themed ‘’Cleanliness is Our Right’’.
- The ministry has also launched ‘Swachh Nagar App’ and Water plus (Water+) protocol on wastewater treatment that would become a part of cleanliness rankings of cities in the 2020 Swachh Survekshan.
Swachh Nagar App
- People will be able to use the ‘Swachh Nagar 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.
- They can also track the waste-collection vehicle on the app, ensuring accountability of municipal corporations.
- The app was already functional in Agra, Palwal and Port Blair and would now be extended to the whole country.
Water plus protocol
- Water plus protocol, which aims to provide a guideline for cities and towns to ensure no untreated wastewater is released into the environment, enabling the sustainability of the sanitation value chain.
- A city could be given the tag of Water+ if it ensures 100% treatment of wastewater and 10% use of treated wastewater, among other things.
mSBM App
- The ministry also launched another app — mSBM — through which the government would be able to check whether funds given to beneficiaries of the Swachh Bharat Mission for constructing toilets are used for the work before releasing the second instalment.
- The app facilitates the applicants of individual household toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-Urban) to know the status of their application in real-time and also help them to upload the correct photo.
- Through the app user can upload the photographs of beneficiaries receiving toilet facilities in their homes.
- While capturing the photograph, latitude and longitude of the location as well as date – time stamp is recorded automatically and gets uploaded on the central server of the Swachh Bharat Mission which is housed in the National Data Centre.
Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban
- The Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-U), launched on 2nd October 2014 aims at making urban India free from open defecation and achieving 100% scientific management of municipal solid waste.
- Objectives of the mission are:
- Elimination of open defecation.
- Eradication of Manual Scavenging.
- Modern and Scientific Municipal Solid Waste Management.
- To effect behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices.
- Generate awareness about sanitation and its linkage with public health.
- Capacity Augmentation for Urban Local Bodies (ULB).
- To create an enabling environment for private sector participation in Capex (capital expenditure) and Opex (operation and maintenance).
- Components of mission are:
- Household toilets, including conversion of insanitary latrines into pour-flush latrines.
- Community toilets.
- Public toilets.
- Solid waste management.
- Public Awareness.
- Capacity building and Administrative & Office Expenses (A&OE).
- By August 2019, 24 states and more than 3,800 cities have been certified Open Defecation-Free (ODF).
- More than 98% of toilet construction targets have been met.
