The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has declared Indore, Madhya Pradesh, the cleanest city of India, as the 1st ‘water plus’ city of India.
- Indore received the 1st Swachh Certification of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Water Plus from the MoHUA under the Swachh Survekshan 2021(SS2021).
SBM Water Plus:
i.It is a certificate provided by the MoHUA to a city for maintaining cleanliness in rivers and drains of its administration.
- SS 2021, which was launched as part of the SBM is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India.
- Water Plus is one of the parameters under the SBM Urban (along with ODF (Open Defecation Free) Plus, ODF Double Plus) that is used to test the cleanliness of cities.
ii.A city/ward/circle/zone could be declared as Water Plus only if all wastewater released from households, commercial establishments, drains, etc. is treated to a satisfactory level (as per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) norms), before releasing to the environment.
- Indore has reused ~30 percent of recycled wastewater at construction sites and gardens.
iii.Validity: The certification of SBM Water Plus is valid for 6 months and the certification process needs to be carried out every 6 months.
iv.Cooling-off Period: A cooling-off period of 1 month (from the date of certification failure) will be provided for the cases of failure in certification for the 1st time.
v.Protocols under Certification of SBM Water Plus:
- A city could self-declare itself as ‘SBM Water Plus’ for the first time and need to communicate it to MoHUA.
- Upon request by the City/State to MoHUA, it will mobilize a third party to assess Service Level Status and conduct Independent Observation within 30 days.
- Based on the recommendations of the third party (as per the assessment result) MoHUA will issue the certificate.
Note – Surat, Gujarat also received the SBM Water Plus certification, it became the 1st city in Gujarat to receive that.
Recent Related News:
On March 1, 2021, Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the field assessment for the 6th Edition of the Annual Cleanliness Survey ‘Swachh Survekshan 2021 (SS2021)’ (urban) in New Delhi, which is said to be World’s largest cleanliness survey.
About Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA):
Union Minister – Hardeep Singh Puri (Constituency – Uttar Pradesh)
Minister of State – Kaushal Kishore (Constituency – Mohanlalganj, Uttar Pradesh)
