Karnal bags third place in ‘Swachh Shehar’ category

Adding another feather to its cap, Karnal has emerged as one of the cleanest cities in the country in the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25, the results of which were announced on Thursday by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in New Delhi.

Karnal was adjudged third in the ‘Swachh Shehar’ category for cities with a population between 50,000 and 3 lakh, following Dewas and Karhad. The award was presented by President Droupadi Murmu.

Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Vipul Goel, Karnal Mayor Renu Bala Gupta and Municipal Commissioner Dr Vaishali Sharma received this award on the behalf of state and city in the presence of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Karnal became the first city in Haryana to be honoured by the President in the Swachh Survekshan awards.

According to the information, the city achieved an impressive 11,067 points out of a total 12,500, earned a 3-star rating in the Garbage-Free City category and was also awarded Water status.

Karnal has made progress in the cleanliness rankings over the years. It improved its position from 115th in 2023 in the category of cities with population above 1 lakh, 85th in 2022, 86th in 2021 and was ranked 17th in 2020, 24th in 2019, 41st in 2018, and 65th in 2017 among cities with populations over one lakh.

Congratulating the people of Karnal, Mayor Renu Bala Gupta said, “This achievement belongs to every resident of Karnal, the hardworking staff of the Municipal Corporation and all stakeholders who contributed tirelessly.”

She highlighted various initiatives undertaken by Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) that contributed to the recognition. She added that GPS tracking and monitoring of garbage collection vehicles, field monitoring of sanitation workers, ‘Meri Beat Meri Pehchan’ competition among sanitation supervisors, implementation of 3R principles – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, with scrap dealers brought together on a single platform, naming sanitation workers as ‘Safai Mitra’ and ensuring their welfare through health camps, uniform and hygiene kit distribution, are among some steps which helped in achieving the goal.

Deputy Commissioner Uttam Singh gave credit to residents of the city and exhorted them to continue their contribution in making the city clean in future also. “The role of the Karnal’s residents is commendable, due to which Karnal is among the cleanest cities of the country,” said the DC.

Dr Vaishali Sharma, Commissioner, KMC, also expressed pride and gratitude. “Karnal’s journey to becoming a clean city is driven by the dedication of our sanitation workers and the cooperation of our citizens. This award is their achievement.”  She also highlighted that their focus was on segregation of waste, timely collection and also expedition of processing. “People contributed to this achievement by segregating the waste, while our teams collected garbage timely and took to the plant. We ensure 100 per cent waste processing at the Solid Waste Management Plant. Initiatives like ‘no vending zones’, ‘no use of plastic in office Atmanirbhar Ward-10’ and student painting competitions to raise awareness are among some steps which helped us in achieving the goal,” said the Commissioner.

Karnal MLA Jagmohan Anand also congratulated people of Karnal for the achievement and said, “The city has consistently improved its performance year after year, which is a testimony to good governance, teamwork, and citizen involvement. This honour puts Karnal on the national cleanliness map.”

Ashok Kumar, Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC), said, “The goal of this Swachh Survekshan was visible cleanliness. For that, we removed dustbins from public spaces, promoted door-to-door waste collection and ensured waste segregation at the source.”

The Swachh Survekshan Awards, launched in 2016 under the Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban, are organised annually by the MoHUA.