The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has decided to make civic improvement activities a monthly exercise, directing its departments to carry out coordinated drives across the city on the first Sunday of every month.
The campaign will cover three key areas sanitation, rainwater conservation and increasing green cover. The move comes after the State Government issued directions for such activities, following which Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani assigned responsibilities to senior civic officials.
For the cleanliness component, Solid Waste Management In-charge Director Vijay Mistry will coordinate the citywide operations. City Engineer (WRM) Vijay Patel will supervise activities under the ‘Catch the Rain’ initiative.
The plantation programme, including the replacement of saplings, will be handled by In-charge Director Dilip Patel and Principal Director General of Parks and Gardens Amrish C. Patel. Deputy Municipal Commissioners assigned to individual zones will be responsible for monitoring the work and ensuring implementation on the ground.
The AMC has also introduced a post-drive monitoring system. Officials will have to submit their reports on the Monday following each monthly exercise. The reports will record the areas covered, quantity of waste collected, rainwater harvesting structures created, saplings planted and tree guards installed.
Photographic evidence will also be mandatory. Departments will have to provide geotagged photographs of locations before and after the work, besides documenting the activities on social media.
A major focus of the plantation drive will be improving the survival rate of trees. Instead of simply replacing dead plants with new young saplings, the AMC has directed officials to use two-to-three-year-old mature saplings for replacement.
Native species will be preferred for plantation along roads and in open spaces. In areas where conventional plantation is difficult because of limited land availability, the AMC plans to develop Miyawaki forests to create dense green patches.
The water conservation component will concentrate on improving existing infrastructure before and during the monsoon. Lakes and check dams will be desilted to increase their water-holding capacity.
The civic body will also create recharge pits at government offices, schools and anganwadis. Borewells that are no longer functional will be converted into groundwater recharge structures.
Another part of the exercise will involve clearing encroachments and accumulated waste from lake catchment areas. The AMC expects this to help restore natural water flow and improve the movement of rainwater towards water bodies.
By making the exercise a fixed monthly activity, the civic body aims to maintain regular monitoring of sanitation, plantation and water conservation work instead of limiting such efforts to occasional drives.