City Pulse

A mobile app, Swachhata, has been working like magic in different parts of India. It is forcing municipal corporations to take prompt action to resolve citizen’s woes and in keeping India garbage free.

The app rolled out by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and built by IChangeMyCity – an online initiative of Janaagraha, enables a citizen to post a Swachhata (garbage-related) issue and follow its progress, in any part of India.

The app comes with a 24-hour mandatory response time. Its success can be gauged by the fact that since its launch in October 2016, it has managed to attract more than one million users, who have been singing praises about its effectiveness.

One such happy user is Prithvi Raj, a student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Chennai. Prithvi Raj believes that India is truly changing and regards Swachhata app as one of the main reasons for bringing about the positive change.

In a response to Quora’s question – “Is India changing?” he writes his experience about posting a complaint on the Swachhata App.

Prithvi Raj’s testimonial

Location: Behind the Forum Vijaya Mall, Chennai.

Time: About 9.00 pm.

What happened?

I encountered a garbage dump. It was one of the small pocket roads of a residential area and this was the last place where one would expect to see a dump. To be exact, this was the location.

A strong feeling made me take this picture. I felt that this would make a good entry for the Swachhata App.

Reaching back home, I downloaded this app.

On installation, it asked for basic details like name and E-mail to create a profile.

The next day, I decided to post the complaint. It was about 10.30 am. Complaint registration turned out to be very simple. One click enabled me to post the picture and I filled in the details seeking the place of the garbage dump and the landmark.

One innovative feature included the type of the complaint, whether it was based on a garbage dump, dead animal or debris. I registered the complaint under ‘Garbage Dump’

About 10 minutes later, I received a call. A man speaking in Tamil said that he was calling from the Municipal Corporation and had wanted to confirm whether I was the complainant. On confirmation, he said that the work would be completed soon.

I was pretty surprised! I didn't expect a fast response. But still I was pretty much skeptical whether the garbage would be cleaned or not. About two hours later I decided to inspect the place and I found some workers cleaning the garbage.

In chatting with the supervisor, I came to know that the complaint was immediately forwarded to them from the corporation office. He said that he was in charge of this area. Furthermore, he encouraged me to report such dumps, if found again.

This was my first complaint. I was happy with this. I went on to report another such place nearby and even that was cleaned within a day!

I believe India is changing!

Click here to download the Swachhata app: Swachhata-MoUD - Android Apps on Google Play