Gurgaon To Clean Up Its Act, App Shows The Way

Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi had called out the countrymen to launch a Satyagraha to bring down the British Rule in India. Our Prime Minister is asking for a similar revolution more suited to our times. “Only Budget allocations cannot further cleanliness. Like Satyagraha that freed us from the British, today there is a need for Swachhagraha to make India free from filth,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while addressing the Indian Sanitation Conference on September 30 this year.

Two days later, on the birth anniversary of Gandhi, Gurgaon joined the ranks of Bhopal, Rajkot and Siliguri to became the fourth city to launch a sanitation app. Now, using the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon's (MCG) Swachh Map, iOS and Android users in the city can click pictures of any unclean site and the matter will get resolved within 24 hours. Not only will the complainant get a notification as soon as the municipal body is done with the cleanup, he will also get the option to express his views on how effectively the complaint was resolved.

“More than 600 people downloaded the app as soon as it was launched. Speaking about the complaints, out of 78 complaints submitted by residents, only 18 were addressed on day one,” NDTV quoted an MCG officer as saying after the app launch.

Of the 73 cities surveyed in the Central government's Swachh Survey earlier this year, the Millennium City stood at the 37th rank. So, before we can actually term the city clean, a lot needs to be done to improve the sanitation issues. On the other hand, brand Gurgaon certainly took a hit when rains caused overnight jams on its roads in July, raising questions on whether the city infrastructure is worthy enough to get a global tag. Gurgaon, known for its swanky malls and high-end commercial estate, is counted among the cities that provide an infrastructure of international standards. This is the reason why property in Gurgaon is highly expensive. However, this has cost the city developers dearly. Buyers have stayed away from the city's property markets owing to the high price tag and homes sales in the city in the past two years have been tardy. Small steps to improve the city infrastructure will not only improve the brand of the city but also revive its property market.