Written By Anjuli Bhargava | Published with permission from Business Standard

On the surface of it, Indore looks like just another unremarkable Indian town in central India. Unlike its less commercial cousin – Bhopal – Indore really has little to offer in terms of visual beauty and charm. Even the fact that it is the commercial hub of Madhya Pradesh isn’t very evident to an outside observer.

But don’t judge a book by its cover. At this point in time, there is nothing less than a mini revolution on in the city and in particular in its citizenry. At a red light, this writer saw a taxi driver tell off an auto rickshaw driver who spat on the road that he should watch it; else he will call the helpline. “Fine lag jayega”, he told him angrily while uttering some other words that are better left unsaid.

There’s another strange thing one notices if one drives around the city long enough. All the stuff that usually lines many Indian sidewalks across the country is by and large missing. No uncle chips and Haldiram packets, no filthy peels of fruits, no plastic bags, no flies, no stray dogs; even the cows are missing. So much so that when one actually spots a plastic bag, it rankles. For regular Indian eyes trained and accustomed to trash, the obvious question that arises : what on earth is going on in this town?

Here’s what. He barks some instructions into a Motorola walkie-talkie as the car zips down the road heading towards his next engagement. His instructions reach 400 officials including ward heads (also known as daroghas) to scrub the public toilet seats so there are no marks left whatsoever. “Just throwing some water in won’t solve the problem”, he explains in chaste but firm Hindi. The urgency in his tone is a bit unnerving. Traveling with him in the vehicle you can’t shake off the feeling that you are in some kind of war zone. A war against garbage.

But just barking orders is not how Manish Singh, the 49 year old municipal commissioner – 2009 IAS batch, MP cadre – who has been municipal commissioner of Bhopal too – has achieved this remarkable feat. When he joined in May 2015, A to Z, a private company entrusted with the task was almost defunct and no services were being provided. The city was filthy, as anyone who lived there or visited will testify. He found almost 1800 spots in the city that were “eye-sores”. A public interest litigation had been filed by an activist in the city against the authorities. Asad Warsi, director of Eco Pro Enviromental Services, working as a consultant to the authorities says Indore was “no different from Lucknow, Allahabad or several other UP towns” – often spoken of as “role models” of how bad things can get.

Backed by a committed and gutsy mayor (Malini Laxman Singh Gaur), he’s employed every possible tactic available to get the job done. But to start with he started doing what municipal corporations are set up to do : door to door collection of garbage.

The city generates around 1100 metric tons of MSW a day. Collection services by municipal authorities are now on offer at almost every door (including slum areas and illegal colonies) at Rs 60 a month (less than what private services charge). Three drivers this reporter speaks to confirm that the areas – not posh ones expectedly – where they live have “never been cleaner”.

Commercial establishments can avail of the service twice a day. A separate collection system with bigger vehicles is being put in place for 1450 bulk waste generators.

Collecting garbage from every household is one aspect. Keeping public areas and roads clean is another. Main roads are swept thrice a day instead of twice as in most cities. Mechanical sweepers are used every alternate day on roads. Roads are washed every night by pressure jets with the aim to make the city “dust-free”, a task that sounds impossible in Indian towns. The trenching ground has a massive shed to wash all the Nigam trucks on a regular basis. As a result, no trash can be spotted sticking onto the trucks as is commonly seen elsewhere.

Almost 1400 dustbins all over the city have been removed. Removed instead of added. Why ? Because residents who had no option, since door to door collection services had come to a halt, put their garbage into plastic bags and threw them into public dustbins – often not taking the trouble of getting out of the car but just chucking from the car window in the direction of the public bin. The result : more garbage around the bin than in it, several stray animals and rag pickers poking their heads in, a filthy mess at the most prime locations and unpleasant smells all over the city. “Removal of dustbins is in some ways proof that door to door collection is happening and is efficient”, explains Singh. Smaller litter-bins have now been placed and are being added for pedestrian use. 175 community and public toilets have been made operational and it is estimated that the city will need to add around 50 more as of now. Several public urinals…