The Patna Municipal Corporation on Friday launched the "Swachhta Chetna Rath" - a van - which will visit various neighbourhoods to announce information about the Swachhta App and the Swachhta helpline number.
Residents can use the mobile application, available on Google Play store, to post a civic complaint such as overflowing garbage or drains. The Swachhta helpline number - 1969 - is for residents to call and give feedback on the PMC's efforts. A complainant is expected to make a missed call on the number, and will receive a call in return from an official.
PMC commissioner Abhishek Singh said the van is part of the municipal corporation's attempt to acquaint residents with the Swachhta App and Swachhta helpline number, in order to fare better in the Union government's annual Swachhta survey later in February.
Last year the city had ranked 70, of 73 cities, in the survey.
After repeated efforts to involve residents in various cleanliness drives over the past year, the van spreading messages for awareness is the PMC's last-ditch effort to push up the number of civic cases registered and resolved on the mobile application.
The results of the city-wise Swachhata survey is expected to be available by February 15.
"Each city under the Swachhta Survey will be judged on various parameters," the PMC commissioner said.
"Of the 600 points, 300 points will be judged by the Quality Council of India's team, which arrived in the city on Friday to conduct a two-day inspection. The three-member team has undertaken a cleanliness and sanitation inspection of cities for an all-India ranking - the Union government will allocate funds to 500 cities in the country on the basis of their rank after the survey for 2017. The remaining points will depend on the feedback provided by residents on the Swachhta App and helpline number."
"Resident feedback determines the points earned under the people's participation category, valued at a total of 300 points, in the Swachhta Survey. More the feedback, more the points received."
The Union urban ministry has fixed specific time limits, for various categories of issues, for the concerned municipal corporation to abide by.
"For example, dumped garbage and overflowing drains must be cleared within 12 hours after the complaint was lodged," Singh said.
"The same timeframe has been provided for fixing the lack of electricity in public toilets or clearing out any blockage. The body of a dead animal on the road must be removed within 48 hours."
Singh said that residents can upload pictures as an attachment to their complaints on the mobile application. The mobile app will pinpoint the exact location of the uploaded picture using geo-tagging.
Around 138 complaints have been registered on the Swachhta App, and around 80 have already been addressed by the municipal corporation within the fixed timeframe.
Despite the efforts made over the past year, the PMC met with an unprecedented snag a few days ago."The password to the Swachhta App, which was provided by Union government, was somehow misplaced," PMC commissioner Singh said.
"We have been trying to retrieve the password and the problem has almost been sorted out. We will soon be able to download the other complaints and ensure they are addressed within the fixed time to earn points."
The corporation has also put up hoardings and banners to draw residents' attention.
