At 163rd rank, municipal corporation’s dirty secret is out

LUDHIANA: Mayor Balkar Sandhu’s claim of bringing Ludhiana among the top 50 clean cities of the country was smashed to smithereens when Swachhta Survekshan-2019 ranked it at 163.
Ludhiana slipped from 137th position to 163rd among 425 cities. It was ranked fifth in Punjab, where small cities like Patiala and Muktsar came second and third, respectively. The poor solid waste management was the main reason for poor ranking, as the city got only one star in the garbage-free city category.

Out of 5,000 marks, the city got 2,523 for its performance. Even after declaring the city open defecation-free, the municipal corporation could not improve its rank. The officials could not implement segregation of waste and door-to-door garbage collection system. Apart from this, the functioning of the A2Z waste management firm in lifting garbage from collection points was also not found up to the mark.

In 2016, Ludhiana was at 34th position out of 50 cities; in 2017 it was 140th and the competition was among 434 cities. In 2018, the city ranked 137th out of 485 cities.

On the other hand, Bathinda and Patiala made it to the first 100 clean cities at 31st and 72nd ranks, respectively. Like last year, Bathinda maintained its first position in the state, and Patiala and Muktsar dragged Mohali to the fourth position.

However, the civic officials claimed that cities like Bathinda, Patiala, Mohali and Muktsar were small towns with easy-to-maintain civic amenities, while Ludhiana was ill-planned and therefore difficult to manage.

Meanwhile, the city residents condemned the performance of the MC. Civil Lines resident Manish Gupta said, “The MC officials work at the eleventh hour. For almost entire year, they do not pay attention to garbage lifting and when survekshan dates are announced, they start cleanliness drives.”

Echoing his opinion, Model Town resident Manisha Sharma said for almost 11 months the sweepers were nowhere in sight, but when survekshan draws near, sweepers could be seen working diligently. “Short cleanliness drives cannot bring any improvement in the rankings. The officials should take lessons from Indore, which has maintained its first position for the third time in a row,” she said.

Admitting that the ranking was low, mayor Balkar Sandhu blamed the poor functioning of A2Z waste management company. “Poor garbage lifting has affected the city’s ranking. We plan to change the company to bring desired results,” he said.