The nerve centre of the Government demands a cleaning act as some of the top offices of the country have most unclean premises. Even the President’s House at Raisina Hill is nowhere closer to perfect cleanliness score.
This was revealed on Saturday when the Government sought to look its buildings under the Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA).
In a survey conducted by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) of 29 Central Government buildings that house top offices of India to check out their cleanliness standards, the results were appalling. A majority of them like Shastri Bhavan and Krishi Bhavan failed cleanliness benchmark and some did not have enough dustbins.
Thankfully, the buildings that host foreign dignitaries were the most spick and span. The Hyderabad House which hosts foreign heads of States, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan, which houses the Ministry of External Affairs and Vigyan Bhavan, venue for Government functions, topped the SBA ratings with a perfect 20 score.
All these three buildings scored maximum points in respect of sanitation infrastructure (10/10), cleanliness (8/8) and availability of dustbins in premises (2/2).
Rashtrapati Bhavan and South Block that house Defence Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office were ranked sixth with 14 points each. Rashtrapati Bhavan was rated 7/10 on sanitation infrastructure, 6/8 on cleanliness and 1/2 for dustbins. South Block was rated 8/10 on sanitation infrastructure, 5/8 on cleanliness and 1 out of 2 points for having dustbins.
Among good performing buildings were also Sardar Patel Bhavan rated Number 2 with 18 points followed by the new building of Comptroller General of Accounts at Rouse Avenue with 17 points. Fourteen buildings scored in the range of 14 to 16 points.
The CPWD had surveyed these 29 buildings in June, eight months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Clean India campaign with much enthusiasm. The CPWD survey looked at availability of sanitation infrastructure, cleanliness and adequacy of dustbins in the buildings and premises.
Interestingly, Nirman Bhavan that houses Urban Development Ministry and has top officials of CPWD sitting in it too was ranked a poor 8 with 12 points. Krishi Bhavan that has Agriculture and Rural Development ministries, and Shastri Bhavan that has several social sector ministries like the Human Resource Development, Youth Affairs, Women and Child Development and the Tribal Affairs among others, ranked at the bottom with 8 points each. lok Nayak Bhavan in Khan Market having branches of Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and Minority Commission was at 10 with 10 points.
The Urban Development Ministry has circulated the ratings to all concerned Ministries and departments to take remedial action for improving infrastructure and cleanliness. Sources said this is the first round of survey and more buildings are likely to be inspected in coming days. By the first anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Government wants to show its own courtyard is perfect clean.