Chandigarh, March 6: Policy paralysis, politics, infighting among BJP councillors, failure to start segregation of waste and lack of funds are some of the reasons which brought down the rank of Chandigarh in the Swachh Survekshan-2019.
Moving down from the third rank last year, Chandigarh has been ranked the 20th cleanest city in the survekshan. Besides Chandigarh, Mohali also slipped in the rankings from the 109th spot to 153rd, while Panchkula improved its ranking and secured the 71st rank from the 142nd last year. The only consolation for the city was that it received the “Best State Capital/UT in Solid Waste Management” award this year.
Winning cities and towns received awards from President Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri at an award ceremony held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi today.
The fourth edition of the annual cleanliness survey of urban India was conducted across 4,237 cities from January 4, 2019, to January 31, 2019. The Swachh Survekshan is conducted to rank cities on various sanitation and cleanliness parameters and was launched in January 2016 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
In this year’s survey, there were four components for arriving at the overall ranking of a city: Certification, direct observation, service level progress and citizen feedback.Each segment had equal weightage of 25 per cent with the maximum total marks of 5,000. The methodology included 20 per cent weightage of marks to garbage-free cities star rating certifications and 5 per cent weightage to ODF (open defecation-free) certifications. The poor performance of Chandigarh was not shocking due to the infighting over the segregation of waste which was witnessed during the run-up to the competition.
Rajesh Kalia, Mayor, thwarted the move of the MC to bring all garbage collectors under the civic body due to which it failed to start the segregation of waste. It also failed to perform well in the citizen feedback category this year.
KK Yadav, MC Commissioner, admitted that in the absence of segregation on the pattern of Indore and poor performance in the star rating, the MC could not perform well.
The Chandigarh MC has been participating in the Swachh Survekshan since its inception. In the Swachh Survekshan-2016, it had secured the 2nd rank, in 2017, it secured the 11th rank and in 2018, it secured the 3rd rank.
“It’s a big blow to the image of the City Beautiful on the swachhta landscape of India,” said Vinod Vashisht, convener of the City Forum of Residents Welfare Organisations.
Vested interests to
blame: Moudgil
In an indirect attack on some councillors of his party, including Mayor Rajesh Kalia, former Mayor Davesh Moudgil said it was due to vested interests of some councillors that the city performed poorly in the survekshan.
In a statement issued here, Moudgil said he and the Commissioner had visited Indore to study the Indore model and he tried his best to introduce it in Chandigarh.
However, a group of two-three councillors did not allow that model to be implemented in Chandigarh and opposed the move continuously at MC meetings.
Had they not opposed these measures, Chandigarh would have easily retained and rather improved its position, he said.
He said during his tenure as Mayor, Chandigarh had achieved the 3rd place, but unfortunately it had now slipped to the 20th spot.
The fact that the city has slipped to the 20th rank is a poor reflection of the way it has been treated and taken care of. Intense infighting in the local BJP has taken a toll on the development and upkeep of the city. — Pawan Kumar Bansal, Congress leader
I am not satisfied with the ranking, but I hope the MC performs well next year and secures the top position. — Kirron Kher, MP
I take full responsibility for it, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the stand I took for garbage collectors and did not allow them to work under the MC. We will improve next year. — Rajesh Kalia, Mayor
