HCL Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of HCL, is a proud supporter of the city of Noida in its mission to become a clean city since 2019.
HCL Foundation’s flagship program Clean NOIDA has been collaborating with the city authority to plan, design and implement effective Solid Waste Management initiatives in Noida. Supported by these efforts, Noida has emerged at the Cleanest Medium City in the Swachh Survekshan 2021, an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns released by the Govt. of India.
The Medium category includes cities with population of 3 – 10 lakh. In the rankings for 1 – 10 lakh, Noida was rated as the 4th cleanest city in the country and has also received a 5-star garbage-free city rating.
Clean NOIDA has successfully implemented high-impact initiatives to drive change across three broad areas in Noida since 2019. These include:
- Behavior Change – implementing mass media and door-to-door campaigns and conducting events to drive behavior change in the citizens. Over 5 lakh citizens from 1.2 lakh households have been made aware of best practices to manage solid waste through these efforts.
- Technological Innovation – Set-up a state-of-the-art Integrated Command Control Centre to streamline city’s solid waste management mechanism covering waste collection, transportation, and remediation. The Center tracks over 370 waste collection and management vehicles daily leading to the collection of around 2000 tons of waste every day. Clean Noida also provided high-tech Litter Picking Machines and custom-made drain cleaning carts to help clean road-side legacy waste in the city and urban villages.
- Transforming Urban Villages – Chakachak Villages project to implement over 140 rapid, intensive cleaning drives in 62 urban villages of Noida; Model Urban Villages project to transform eight urban villages into model villages with end-to-end waste management. The interventions have helped rid the villages of 7000+ tons of solid waste and 5500+ tons of liquid waste, to date.
The above efforts have helped Noida consistently improve its rankings in the Swachh Survekshan since 2018.
“It is a proud moment for Noida, and HCL and Clean NOIDA are honored to have played a transformative role in Noida’s quest to emerge as one the cleanest cities in the country. The Swachh Survekshan raking is a testament to how our efforts for improving the solid waste management initiative and driving behavior change have delivered the desired impact. It is also a perfect example of how effective public private partnership can drive positive results. We want to thank the citizens of Noida, Noida Authority and their CEO Ms Ritu Maheshwari for their unwavering support and partnership for these efforts,” said Alok Varma, Project Director, HCL Foundation.
Ritu Maheshwari (IAS), CEO, Noida Authority said, “We are proud of this achievement and many congratulations to everyone who has been part of Noida’s efforts to emerge as one of the cleanest cities in the country. HCL Foundation has played a critical role in our overall mission by driving various efforts for bringing behavior change among citizens, and implementing technological innovation and capacity building programs. I want to urge them to continue to build technological solutions to help bridge gaps in the water system, drainage network and training programs for Safai Mitras. These will definitely help Noida emerge as the cleanest city in India.”