Swachh Survekshan: Jalandhar fares poorly, slips 85 notches

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, January 12

Coming as a major embarrassment for the state government, Municipal Corporation authorities and Jalandhar Smart City teams, the city slipped 85 notches in the Swachh Survekshan 2023, the rankings of which were declared yesterday.

Despite the fact that Punjab Local Bodies Minister Balkar Singh hails from Jalandhar city, it slipped from 154th rank last year to 239th in the country, which is the lowest in the past four years. The city stands at 13th position in Punjab, instead of sixth last year. Jalandhar lags terribly behind in terms of garbage collection. In fact, the city got zero per cent in the criterion for waste generation and processing since there is no working processing unit in Jalandhar despite tenders being floated year after year.

No MC House for 1 yr

A major reason for the downfall of Jalandhar is that there is no MC House for the past one year. The previous House was dissolved in January. Since then, the AAP government has failed to hold elections. With no Mayor and councillors, there is hardly any accountability of the working of the Municipal Corporation and no one to question them over the working.

3,848 marks

The city got 3,848 marks out of a total of 9,500. It lost all 1,830 points on which the waste processing is weighed. The city generates 500 tonnes of waste daily and its Rs 35-crore bio-mining project has been a big failure.

The city got 3,848 marks out of a total of 9,500. It lost all 1,830 points on which the waste processing is weighed. The city generates 500 tonnes of waste daily and its Rs 35-crore bio-mining project has been a big failure. MC Commissioner Aditya Uppal, who joined last month, has said that efforts would be made to bring Jalandhar up again in the next survey by the Urban Development Department.

A major reason for the downfall of Jalandhar is that there is no MC House for the past one year. The previous House was dissolved in January. Since then, the AAP government has failed to hold elections. With no Mayor and councillors, there is hardly any accountability of the working of the Municipal Corporation and no one to question them over the working.

Even the MC Commissioner kept on changing every two to three months and no official got any time to settle down, understand the issues and get them resolved.