New challenge for India's shining city

By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Surat, Gujarat

Every night a small army of men takes over the streets of Surat, the city in the western Indian state of Gujarat famous for its diamond and textile industries.

Surat's cleanliness is in stark contrast to other Indian cities

For three to four hours, these men, dressed in orange vests that reflect light, sweep the city roads clean with brooms.

And all this hard work is showing results.

Surat, which gained international notoriety in 1994 after an outbreak of bubonic plague killed dozens of people, has made an astonishing turnaround.

As the city's long-term residents will tell you, at that time garbage lined the streets and drains were choked with filth.

After the plague, thousands fled the city, businesses plummeted, and visitors wore masks at all times.

Today, Surat is a model for cleanliness and has been voted one of the cleanest cities in the country. Its wide tree-lined avenues and sparkling clean public areas score way higher than other Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay) and Bangalore.

Dilip Chashmawala, the president of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says he "feels proud to live in Asia's cleanest city".

"We have the best infrastructure facilities in terms of roads, drinking water, and drainage systems. Our municipal corporation is the best in the country."

He says Surat today compares with Asia's best cities - like Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Step-by-step clean-up

Everyone here agrees that Surat's turnaround was brought about single-handedly by its former municipal commissioner, SR Rao.

The makeover has yet to reach the slums, where sewers lie open

"He ensured that the rules and regulations were strictly followed and implemented," says Mr Chashmawala.

"First, he took action against the hotels and street hawkers selling unhygienic food, then he targeted those littering public spaces, then he went into people's homes."

At first, Mr Rao's attempts to change the city's appearance were resisted. But when the results gradually began to show, people came round to his way of thinking.

"People were scared. If a piece of paper was found in front of a shop, the shopkeeper had to pay a fine. The authorities refused to buy into the argument that the customers were littering," says Surat resident and businessman, Kamal Kumar Jain.

"The shopkeepers were told it was their responsibility to keep their premises clean."

This led to a complete transformation of the city.

Slum problems

But the authorities say their work is not complete yet. Dr Kanubhai Mavani, the present mayor of Surat, says: "The city has become beautiful over the last 10 years. But we have plans to make it even more beautiful."

He rattles off plans to build more flyovers, develop the riverfront and improve the city's air by introducing the clean fuel, CNG, for public transport.

The authorities come and see us every year and say they'll build a proper drainage system. Then they go away and don't return. Ramesh Balubhai Gamit

But Mr Mavani's plans face a stumbling block in the rapidly growing population of Surat.

The city's current population is four million. But with its thriving diamond and textile industries, Surat is constantly attracting more migrants in search of work, from all over the country. And many of these migrants live in the city's slums.

One such place is the Morarji colony in Udhna, an industrial-cum-residential area. Tucked away from the public eye, this is Surat's underbelly, pock-marked with piles of garbage and open drains swirling with gooey filth. The stench here is unbearable.

It is not surprising then that the 10,000 residents of Morarji colony don't believe their city is clean.

Bhanu Ben says only the areas where the rich live are clean. "Our homes get flooded every monsoon. Last year, we lost our clothes, our utensils, everything."

Her neighbour, Ramesh Balubhai Gamit, who works in the textile looms, is more scathing.

"Our city is filthy," he says. "The authorities come and see us every year and say they'll build a proper drainage system. Then they go away and don't return. I've been here for 20 years, and have heard these promises for the last five years."

Rubbish problem

Darshan Desai, a Surat-based environmentalist, says Udhna and other low-lying areas of the city get flooded every monsoon because polythene bags choke the drains. "We seriously need to do something about them," he says.

Mr Desai says the Municipal Corporation is doing a great job collecting waste door-to-door, but the rubbish is not separated and there are no permanent plans to deal with it.

Rag-pickers like Ramilla make a living from Surat's dumping grounds

All the collected refuse is transported to one of the six dumping grounds in the city and left there to rot.

One of those dumps is spread over 200,000 square yards in Bhatar.

Egrets, crows, drongos and dozens of dogs feast on mounds of rubbish. And Ramilla the rag-picker sifts through the garbage in search of anything of value.

Officials say 150 metric tonnes of garbage used to arrive here daily, but now it is full.

Municipal authorities say they realise they are running out of space and Dr IC Patel, deputy commissioner at the Surat Municipal Corporation, says they are working on plans to segregate waste at source and recycle it.

Officials say they are preparing a new document, called "Vision 2020", that outlines how to turn Surat into a world-class city.

"In the next 10 years," says Mayor Mavani, "Surat will be a city without any slums."

Anywhere else, this may sound like a boast. But in the present-day Surat, it is a target that seems within reach.