Swachh Survekshan: Solan civic body slips in ranking

Ambika Sharma

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Solan, January 28

The Solan Municipal Corporation (MC) attained the 12th rank in the state in the Swachh Survekshan 2023 ranking while slipping from the top position attained in 2022. It scored 2,063 points against 2,962 points in 2022. It has also slipped in its zonal ranking from 31st to 147th rank among the northern states.

The big fall

• The MC attained the 12th rank in the state slipping from the top position attained in 2022. It scored 2,063 points against 2,962 points in 2022. It has also slipped in its zonal ranking from 31st to 147th rank among the northern states
• The rankings, released on January 12, have left behind many questions on the assessment of parameters. The city falls in the 25,000-50,000 population band
• The civic body was upgraded to a municipal corporation from a council in 2020 and was at its nascent stage

An assessment of various criteria taken into consideration while granting this rank reveals that Solan has been granted 99 per cent marks in door-to-door collection of waste while merely 2 per cent have been allotted for source segregation of waste and nil in waste generation versus processing.

It has earned 52 per cent score for remediation of dumpsites. Its cleanliness of residential areas as well as the market area has, however, been rated high at 99 per cent each. Cleanliness of water bodies was, however, low at 54 per cent while cleanliness of public toilets had fetched it 100 per cent score.

It has secured the open defecation free (ODF)++ status while registering an improvement from the earlier ODF+ status granted on two occasions. It has therefore earned high on cleanliness of public toilets.

The rankings, released on January 12, have left behind many questions on the assessment of parameters. The city falls in the 25,000-50,000 population band.

The MC consists of 17 wards with a population of 39,256 spread over 6.2 sq/km area. The city had scored high on parameters like door-to-door garbage collection but rated poorly on segregation of solid waste.

The civic body has an operational waste-to-energy plant having two dumping sites with one material recovery facility. The solid waste collected from the MC area is segregated into dry and wet at the Salogra plant and then the executing company transports it to its facility at Panchkula for scientific disposal. While this parameter had fetched it high score last year, how it has failed to fetch any point this year is surprising as this facility was operational like last year.

A central team had inspected various parameters from August to October last year. Apart from these parameters, public feedback is also included as important criteria while assessing a city.

The civic body was upgraded into a municipal corporation from a council in 2020 and was at its nascent stage. Cash crunch was acting as a deterrent in implementing various ambitious schemes like sewage connectivity to the entire city where Rs 188 crore funds have been sought from the centre.