Jaipur Spends ₹552 Crore a Year on Cleaning, Yet Gets No Place in Top 3; These Cities Did Wonders With Less Spending

Jaipur: Every year, new cities are making a name for themselves in Swachh Survekshan. Earlier, Indore dominated; now cities such as Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur and Lucknow have come into the top three. Jaipur is once again outside the top three.

There is no shortage of spending on cleaning in Jaipur, but the results are not matching the expenditure. Jaipur Municipal Corporation is spending about ₹46 crore every month on cleaning. At this rate, annual spending reaches ₹552 crore. Visakhapatnam and Lucknow, which are among the top three in the recently released cleanliness rankings, are spending less on cleaning than Jaipur. Figures for Jabalpur are not available.

Consistency Needed Along With Strictness in Cleaning

“The cities that are doing better in cleaning first put a system in place and then reduced waste. Campaigns are still going on in Jaipur. This gives momentary satisfaction. It needs to be institutionalised. Costs also need to be reduced,” said Vivek S Agrawal, expert, solid waste management. “The municipal corporation will also have to see how much of the waste lifted from homes is reaching processing in different categories. Along with the number of sanitation workers and spending on machinery, the results of their work should also be measured.”

Reasons for Missing Top 3 to Be Examined

“Jaipur has got first place at the state level. The national-level ranking is yet to come. We will find out the reasons for not making it into the top three,” said Om Kasera, commissioner, Jaipur Municipal Corporation. “We will focus especially on door-to-door waste collection, segregation of wet and dry waste, regular cleaning and scientific disposal of waste.”

Jaipur: Item-wise Spending on Cleaning

• Door-to-door waste collection: ₹7 crore per month
• Waste transportation: ₹4 crore per month
• Road sweeping, compactors and litter pickers: ₹4 crore per month
• Regular sanitation workers: 7,000
• Monthly spending on sanitation workers: ₹28 crore
• Sanitation workers deployed under campaign: 3,000
• Estimated daily waste: 2,000 tonnes

Visakhapatnam: Waste Segregation at Home Itself

• Ward-level four-bin waste management and strict door-to-door waste collection.
• Ban on single-use plastic. Scientific waste management and composting.
• Training in making compost from organic waste at home. Public participation and awareness campaigns were run.

Jabalpur: Waste-to-Energy Plant Revived

• Public places, along with roads and dividers, were improved compared with earlier.
• The commissioner used to go out at 6 am to inspect cleaning arrangements. Action was taken against staff for negligence.
• Spot fines were imposed throughout the year for dirt at public places.

Lucknow: Climbed From 269th to Third Place

• Scientific disposal of 20 lakh metric tonnes of old waste.
• Clearing of old waste freed 46 acres of land.
• The system of making compost from wet waste was run smoothly.

How Ranks Changed

City	2025-26	2024-25
Visakhapatnam	1	9
Jabalpur	2	5
Lucknow	3	3

Annual Spending Details

City	Annual spending
Visakhapatnam	₹455 crore
Lucknow	₹475 crore
Jaipur	₹552 crore
Jabalpur	Not available