Karnal, Sonepat MCs to mentor 10 civic bodies to up cleanliness ranking

Karnal and Sonepat Municipal Corporations (MCs), which had secured top honours in the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25, will now guide 10 MCs of Haryana to improve their cleanliness rankings by sharing their successful strategies and best practices.

Karnal, which stood third in its population category and received the Presidential Award, and Sonepat, which earned a Ministerial Award, were both recognised for innovations such as effective door-to-door collection, citizen engagement drives like ‘Meri Beat, Meri Pehchan’ and others.

This was announced by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini while chairing a meeting with officials and elected representatives of Karnal MC and five MCs - Siwan, Ismailabad, Rajaund, Narnaud and Kalanwali -- while the signing of MoU under ‘Swachh Shehar Jodi’ campaign of the Union Government.

As per the MoU, the Karnal MC will assist Siwan, Ismailabad, Rajaund, Narnaud and Kalanwali, while Sonepat will mentor Hodal, Narnaul, Pataudi Mandi, Faruknagar and Kundli.

Union Minister of Power, Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar joined the programme from Sonepat through video conferencing and interacted with representatives of various urban local bodies across the country. He underlined the importance of the initiative, explaining how successful cities can mentor smaller towns to adopt best practices in waste management, sanitation and citizen participation.

CM Saini said that other cities and towns would also be developed into clean, beautiful and green spaces by ensuring compliance with the prescribed parameters.

“The officials and public representatives of both MCs—Karnal and Sonepat—will share their ideas with these 10 MCs to help them improve their rankings,” said Saini.

Saini added that the mentoring would involve field visits by Mayors and officials of Karnal and Sonepat to the respective towns to share their experiences and strategies.

Saini further announced that Haryana would also organise its own intra-state cleanliness competition, ranking its cities based on defined parameters. “Municipal corporations, councils and committees are continuously working to maintain cleanliness so that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a clean and green nation can be realised,” he added.

The CM also emphasised the importance of cleanliness and said, “Cleanliness protects us from many diseases. It is everyone’s responsibility to make the campaign successful under the PM’s leadership.”