The Centre Friday termed "factually incorrect" the CSE's claim of loopholes in the Swachh Survekshan 2019, and asserted that it was addressing the issue of urban sanitation and waste management in a transparent and systematic manner under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry issued a statement saying CSE's implication that the quality of survey was inferior as it was conducted in 28 days is "erroneous".
Earlier this month, environment think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had claimed there were several loopholes in the Swachh Survekshan 2019 survey and ranking of cities.
It had also claimed the on-ground assessment for the survey was completed in a mere 28 days to ensure the results were declared before the announcement of the election dates, noting the 2018 exercise was spread over 66 days.
"The data collection from ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) was done every month, between September to December 2018.
"Only the ground level assessment and citizen feedback was done in 28 days," the ministry said in the statement.
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According to the statement, more than 3,000 assessors were involved in the survey and each of the 4,237 ULBs was physically visited by assessors. Every visit has been recorded through geo-tagging and time stamping of the assessors, it said.
"An article by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on the Swachh Survekshan 2019 has created a wrong impression as the article is factually inaccurate," the ministry said.
The Swachh Surveskshan awards were conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony here on March 6 in which Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for a third straight year while the second and third positions in the category were grabbed by Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Mysore in Karnataka.
ULBs were not informed about the exact date when the assessor was visiting their city this year, since assessors were not supposed to visit ULB's office for any data collection to have an element of surprise in the direct observation, it stated.
According to the ministry, it has not received any complaint from any state or city regarding their ranks or awards in the 2019 Swachh Survekshan.
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