Mayor protests 262 rank to post-Prakashotsava clean Patna
Patna,(BiharTimes): The Mayor of Patna Afzal Imam on Saturday wrote a letter to the director of Swachh Bharat Mission, Praveen Prakash, asking him to explain the undervaluation of Patna else the Bihar capital would not participate in the annual survey from next year.
Patna ranked 262, while Biharsharif with 147 rank topped the state’s list in 434 cities/towns from across the country. The survey was conducted in January-February this year. As reported the rankings were announced by Union urban development ministry on Thursday.
The Patna Municipal Corporation, according to the letter, has been grossly undervaluated. “A team of the Swachh Bharat Mission, which has initiated the survey, visited Patna for an on-the-spot evaluation and for citizens’ feedback. The team was supposed to be here from February 6 to 8. However, it advanced the visit and arrived on February 4 after informing us on February 3 evening,” he said.
Imam said the PMC got 221/500 this year as against 243/500 points last year in the survey's “on-the-spot” category. “The team members took pictures and highlighted only our ‘negatives’ in their report,” he wrote adding that the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh was celebrated as Prakashotsava in the city from December 25 to January 5.
“The cleanliness of Patna was appreciated by one and all, including Sikh devotees and dignitaries who had come from different parts of the country and abroad. The measures initiated for freeing the city of garbage and dirt for Prakashotsava continued even after the celebrations,” the letter said.
He wondered why still Patna was marked less than last year. “This is demoralising and painful and a jolt to the positive intent with which we were working towards achieving the goals under the Swachh Bharat Mission and making Patna one of the cleanest, if not the cleanest, capital cities,” wrote the Mayor while expressing dissatisfaction over the zero awarded to Patna in the category of Swachhta App. "No less than 2,000 downloads were made by the city residents... At least 636 of the 668 complaints registered in the app were resolved,” the letter pointed out.
Imam also released to the media a screenshot of the Swachh Bharat Mission website on the last day before the app closure on March 1. It showed Patna’s ranking as 79. “How do you explain our final score of zero then?” he asked.
