Civic ranking in 360-degree appraisal

Calcutta: All municipal organisations in Bengal except the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) will be ranked from this year based on parameters ranging from vector-control to waste segregation at source.

The rankings will be published at the end of the year after three stages of evaluation, the last by citizens.

A senior official of the state government said municipalities would be required to do a self-assessment before third-party evaluation. In the final stage, citizens will evaluate municipal performance.

The CMC has been kept out of the ranking system because it is a behemoth compared to other municipalities with far less funds and smaller populations to cater to. A source in the urban development department said the decision was based on the understanding that it would be unfair to compare the scope and scale of its performance with the rest.

Municipal bodies will compete in two population-based categories - above and below 85,000.

The Howrah Municipal Corporation and the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation will compete with those catering to a population higher than 85,000. The list includes South Dum Dum municipality and Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality.

The Howrah municipal area has 14 lakh people while Bidhannagar has about 7 lakh. The CMC serves a population of nearly 45 lakh, which during the day increases to nearly 60 lakh because of temporary migration from the districts for work.

"We will allocate funds to the civic bodies based on how people-friendly they are. We will check whether they have started online sanction of building plans and issuance of trade licences. If they have, the deciding factor will be how well they are implementing this," Firhad Hakim, the state's urban development minister, said.

The municipal bodies will be marked on 16 basic parameters, each with a weightage between 1 and 5. The lowest rating means the municipal body "needs improvement" and the highest one signifies "outstanding" performance.

The basic parameters include door-to-door collection of waste, vector control, maintenance of garbage vats, illumination of roads, slum development and public toilets. There will be six advanced parameters such as rainwater harvesting, construction of green buildings, segregation of waste at source and implementation of the ban on use of plastic bags.

Fifteen per cent of all civic bodies will be selected for the state-level competition.