Chandigarh City not so Beautiful

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 20

The City Beautiful saw a major fall in its rankings in the Swachh Survekshan-2021, the Central Government’s annual cleanliness survey to promote sanitation in urban centres under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Chandigarh dropped from last year’s eighth rank to 16th this year among cities with a population of over 10 lakh. The city had to settle for a distant 66th position among 4,320 cities which participated in the survey.

This year the cities were surveyed on the basis of three categories. The well-planned green city could secure only 4277.29 points out of 6000. It got 2000.48/2400 in service-level progress (SLP), 1372.81/1800 in citizens’ voice and 900/1800 in certification. Compared to last year, the city’s total points dropped this time. It had bagged 4970/6000 in 2020.

Best-performing UT

However, Chandigarh has bagged an award for the best -performing Union Territory under the “Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge” for 2021. Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri today gave the award to Ravi Kant Sharma, Mayor, at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The city was also awarded the apex ODF certification of water + certification.

Vinod Vashisht, convener, City Forum of Residents Welfare Organisations (CFORWO), said, “It’s the worst-ever performance of Chandigarh. This year’s dismal performance of the city is primarily due to downgrading of garbage-free cities (GFC) certification from three star to one star. It shows alarming gaps in the MC in its self-assessments. Neither is the corporation actively and objectively engaging with residents nor has it taken any proactive steps. The city’s sole solid waste to energy plant and animal incinerator plant remained non-functional. Besides, there are many garbage points in the city.” Leader of the Opposition and Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla said, “It has been 26 years since the corporation was formed, but the cleanliness has never been in such bad shape as under the BJP rule.” AAP’s Chandigarh co-incharge Pardeep Chhabra said, “I request the UT Administrator to dissolve the MC and remove the Mayor.”

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