Overflowing sewage and litter belie Baddi’s Swachhta rankings

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, February 8

The industrial town of Baddi, where filth strewn around every nook and corner, has fared better than Nalagarh and Solan in the Swachhta Ranking-2023. Baddi has secured 3,003 points nationally and stands 182nd in the zonal ranking. It occupies the 34th rank in the state.

The Baddi Municipal Council boasts of ensuring 99 per cent door-to-door collection of waste. It scores nil on the waste generation versus processing criteria. This appeared to be far from reality as one sees waste disposed around every nook and corner. Overflowing sewage is the hallmark of areas such as the Chakka road.

Though the town has been granted 98 per cent on cleanliness in the residential areas as well as market areas, it presents an ugly picture of filth and dirt. It has also secured 100 per cent on cleanliness of public toilets.

Despite being comparatively clean, the adjoining urban local body (ULB) of Nalagarh stands at the 3,445th score nationally, 383rd at the zonal level and 48th in the state.

In Nalagarh, the door-to-door waste collection was 89 per cent. Its source segregation was a poor 28 per cent, securing nil marks for waste generation, versus processing as well as for remediation of dumpsites. It has secured 87 per cent for cleanliness in the residential and market areas while cleanliness of water bodies was as poor as 39 per cent and that of public toilets at 83 per cent.

Though the Sarsa river stretch, which figures among the polluted water stretches nationally, falls in Baddi, the town has secured a higher rating in cleanliness of water bodies at 49 per cent than Nalagarh, (39 pc).

These facts have cast serious doubts over the rating system. Solan city, which is much cleaner, has received 2,063 points overall, much less than Baddi. The method adopted to rank the civic bodies has come under scrutiny.

‘Skewed reality’

• Baddi MC boasts of 99 per cent door-to-door collection of waste while 55 per cent garbage is segregated at source.
• It has scored nil on the waste generation versus processing criteria while it got 69 per cent on remediation of dumpsites.
• This appeared to be far from reality as one sees waste disposed around every nook and corner.
• The town has been granted 98 per cent on cleanliness in residential and market areas

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