Swachh Survekshan: Chandigarh moves one rank up, still not among top 10

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, January 11

City Beautiful has climbed one step up on the Swachh Survekshan ladder, but again failed to make it to the top 10 cleanest cities of the country.

The UT was adjudged 11th cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan 2023, the results of which were announced today. It had secured 12th rank in 2022 and 66th in 2021, which was its worst-ever ranking. The city was at No. 2 in 2016 when the survey was conducted for the first time.

In the category of cities with population of over one lakh, Indore stood first for the seventh time in a row, followed by Surat and Navi Mumabi, respectively. New Delhi at No. 7 also turned out to be a cleaner city than Chandigarh.

The city has secured 8,541.1 marks out of a total of 9,500 marks. The category-wise score of the city was as follows. Service-level programme (SLP): 4,645.3/4,830; garbage-free city (GFC): 725/1,375; open defecation-free (ODF): 1,125/1,125 and citizen voice: 2,045.8/2,170.

A further breakup of the city report card released here today found the UT achieving 100 per cent level in cleanliness of residential as well market areas, waste generation vs processing, cleanliness of water bodies and public toilets. While remediation of dumpsites has been pegged at 67 per cent, door to door collection of waste is 99 per cent and waste segregation at source 97 per cent.

However, the city’s ranking fell much short of what Anup Gupta promised at the time of assuming charge as Mayor one year ago. He had stated that he would bring the city back in the top three positions. “We only lagged behind in garbage-free city category, which was based on the clearing of the Dadu Majra dumping ground. This dump is going to be cleared in two months and then we will be surely among top three cities in next survey,” said Gupta.

Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “Moving upwards in the ranking underscores the concerted efforts of the corporation and its commitment to improving the city’s cleanliness and sanitation standards. This year, we will move towards 100 per cent bioremediation of the waste dump to be among the top three spots.”

Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu gave away the awards to the city team led by Mayor Anup Gupta, who was accompanied by UT Home Secretary Nitin Kumar Yadav, MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra and Chief Engineer NP Sharma in Delhi.

Mayor cites Dadu Majra dump

We only lagged behind in garbage-free city category. The Dadu Majra dumping ground is going to be cleared in two months and then we will be surely among top three cities in next survey — Anup Gupta, Mayor

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