Surat: banking on money
Four years after a plague that claimed many lives in Surat, Gujarat, the city has become one of the cleanest in India. Out of a total of 1,008 metric tonnes of solid waste generated in the city every day, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) handles around 960 metric tonnes.
This change was brought about by S R Rao, the then commissioner of SMC. After joining SMC in 1995, Rao divided the municipal corporation into six zones. Officials were given more power and all employees were provided with basic facilities to carry out their job effectively. Initially, the people were not convinced about the cleanliness drive, "but they soon took it seriously and started cooperating with SMC workers,' says Hemant Desai, health officer, SMC.
Rao also delegated financial and administrative powers to the zonal chiefs; fixed individual as well as group duties; gave wireless and mobile phones for communication; and computerised the system for effective monitoring and evaluation.
"We have created a system so that action can be taken within 48 hours of lodging the complaint,' says Desai. The municipality prepares a ward-wise report daily for the activities undertaken by the corporation. SMC officials then review the report and chalk out the future course of action.
"Our major challenge is to dispose of solid waste in a scientific manner. Currently, we do not have a system to segregate organic and inorganic wastes at source,' says G P Mohapatra, the present commissioner of SMC. "This year, we have drawn up a major plan to construct a scientific landfill and segregate wastes at source,' he says.
However, all this would not have been possible without Rao. Besides, SMC is a cash-rich municipality. It's total budget is Rs 599 crore, according to K C Mehta, assistant commissioner (finance), SMC. In comparison, the Indore Municipal Corporation's (IMC) total budget is a mere Rs 96 crore, says Sanjay Shukla, IMC commissioner. This despite the fact that both the cities are almost similar in size and population. The area of Surat is 112 square kilometres (sq km), while Indore is 132 sq km; the population is estimated at 2.2 million for Surat and 2 million for Indore.
Of the Rs 599 crore, SMC spends Rs 30 crore on solid waste management (excluding salaries of garbage management staff), which means SMC invests a mere 38 paise per day per capita. This amount is several times higher than the amount other municipal corporations spend, says Shukla. Indore, for one, spends only Rs 3 crore on solid waste management.
Lack of resources, therefore, makes it difficult for other municipalities to replicate the Surat model. But even SMC is likely to suffer from a fund crunch in the future. Out of the total budget, SMC generates Rs 225 through octroi. With the government planning to abolish octroi in the future, the municipality could lose a vital source of revenue. "The government will have to provide us with other sources of revenue,' says Mohapatra, adding, "Today, it is impossible for anyone to go back to the earlier system of filth.'