HUDCO award to Indore questioned

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, APRIL 22. The HUDCO Clean City Award has come under a controversy since many prominent Indore citizens have questioned the criteria and yardstick adopted by the organisation for the selection of Indore for this award.

The former State Minister and Mayor of Indore, Mr. Suresh Seth, has strongly reacted to Indore's selection for the Clean City Award. He told The Hindu that given the present state of Indore, which has turned into a garbage dump in the absence of a proper garbage disposal system, the award smacks of ``bribe''. He even went to the extent of alleging that HUDCO has selected Indore for this award since presently there is a BJP-led Government at the Centre and the Indore Municipal corporation is also loaded with BJP men. Without mincing words Mr. Seth said the selection of Indore, despite its many civic drawbacks, raises doubts about the entire selection process adopted by HUDCO and puts a question mark on the credibility of this Award.

The founder of Nature Volunteers and well-known environmentalist from Indore, Mr. Bhalu Mondhe, said that Indore did not deserve this award. One wonders what was the criteria for selection and who constituted the jury for this Award, he quipped.

The Managing Trustee of the Centre for Environment Protection, Research and Development and former IPS officer, Mr. Sudhir Mishra, also holds similar views. He said ``we are not aware what parameters were there for finalizing the Clean City Award in Indore's favour.'' Indore is hardly a clean city, he said, adding that there are on the other hand studies to suggest that Indore is one of the dirtiest cities in the country. When contacted several other residents also complained of the backlines most new colonies have in Indore for the accumulation of night- soil and waste water.

They said every one is aware how the ground water gets contaminated by the backlines, especially during the rainy season, resulting in a spurt of water borne diseases like gastro- enteritis and hepatitis.

Some town and country planning experts went on to inform how the ambitious Habitat Improvement Project, which was implemented with a grant of œ 14.4 million by the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) of Britain, had failed to deliver the desired results since the sewage drains that were built as part of this project in many slum clusters have got clogged over a period of time due to misuse, poor engineering and maintenance.

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