New Delhi: Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will soon introduce mechanised and automated waste collection and transport in some of its wards as part of a pilot project.

The Union ministry of urban development, Varanasi Nagar Nigam and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) on Wednesday signed an agreement to conduct the project in 14 wards for three years in the holy city, which was ranked among the 10 dirtiest cities in the first Swachh Bharat ranking of cities released on 15 February.

The AAI will cover the cost, while the urban development ministry will provide both technical and financial support. “I am confident that the Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) will benefit immensely from this arrangement, and I would like to thank the Airport Authority of India for extending their support," said Praveen Prakash, joint secretary in the urban development ministry and mission director of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

“Based on the outcome, we will see if similar arrangements can be applied to other cities," Prakash said in a press release. The wards identified for the project are along the ghats of Ganga river, hosting a population of about 1.1 lakh.

The city, a centre for tourism and religious visitors, generates an average of 650 metric tonnes of municipal waste on a daily basis. Varanasi was ranked 65 among the 73 cities in the Swachh Survekshan survey conducted by the urban development ministry. The survey was based on parameters such as access to sanitation, strategy to tackle open defecation and solid waste management. The cities ranking fell from 59 in 2014 to 65 in 2015.

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