Indore: Impressed by city's Zero Waste Ward concept,MoHUA adds Aatmanirbhar Ward category for Swacchata Survekshan 2022

Indore
The Indore Municipal Corporation’s initiative of Zero Waste Colony and then Zero Waste Ward has been so appreciated by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) that they have now started an Aatmanirbhar Ward category for urban local bodies (UBLs) competing for Swacchata awards. The ministry has asked all competing ULBs to have at least one Aatmanirbhar Ward. Indore already has six such wards.

The IMC officials said that the concept of Zero Waste Colony was introduced by former municipal commissioner Asheesh Singh. Later, when IMC commissioner Pratibha Pal took over she introduced Zero Waste Ward.

When Indore succeeded in creating a Zero Waste Ward, where no garbage or waste is dumped anywhere and the residents themselves decompose the garbage, it was hailed as a unique achievement.

Officials said that looking at the success of Indore, the ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs introduced it in their survekshan as a category and renamed it as Aatmanirbhar Ward.

In Indore, ward numbers 45, 47, 4, 32, 66, and 73 have become Aatmanirbhar Wards.

Officials said that in Aatmanirbhar Ward wet waste is processed with home composting or community composting. Dry waste is segregated. 3R activities and workshops are also organised on a weekly and monthly basis in such wards. Six bin segregation is also taking place in these wards.

Guideline for 2022 Survekshan

According to the guidelines of the ministry, marks would be given for Aatmanirbhar Wards and also for setting up Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) in wards with zero collection of wet waste. With the active role of RWA(s ) and citizens, 100% wet
waste is processed within the ward only (ULB may assist with creating a processing facility within the ward). Cities are expected to engage citizens and RWAs proactively so that wards become self-sustainable in terms of wet waste management.

CHALLENGES
Last year Indore Municipal Corporation and NGOs' team made door to door visits and communicated with citizens of the wards to identify their problems regarding waste management and resolved them, an official said. After getting positive results IMC organised group meetings with residents and RWAs to explain the idea of Zero Waste ward. All doubts of the residents were cleared at these meetings. Soon citizens of several wards launched this initiative by doing on-site composting and community composting and they found it very helpful for developing kitchen gardens and in sustaining healthy habits, an official said.

CURRENT SCENARIO
To compete in Swachh Survekshan 2022, in all the six Aatmanirbhar wards 100% of wet waste is being processed within the ward. Indore Municipal Corporation has started engaging community and local leaders to ensure the ward sustains 100% on-site composting. To keep the tempo up, the IMC and NGOs bring brand ambassadors to communicate with citizens of the wards on how to improve waste management.