Amritsar city was ranked the second cleanest city in Punjab after Ludhiana, slotted 39 and 34, respectively, among 47 cities across the country with a population of more than 10 lakh in the Swacch Survekshan Awards 2020 announced on Thursday. The city also registered a steep rise up the rankings from 184 last year and 208 in 2018.
In the previous years, however, the results were not categorised on the basis of population.
The cities were each scored on 6,000 points, of which 1,500 points each were allotted to direct observation, service level progress, citizen feedback and urban local body (ULB) documentation.
Amritsar was awarded 2459.31 points and scored 1,046.27 points in citizen’s feedback, even higher than the state and national average.
Commenting on the matter, municipal corporation (MC) commissioner Komal Mittal said, “The MC had initiated awareness campaigns in schools and colleges pertaining to cleanliness. The city has already been declared open defecation free, which has contributed to the improved score. We are working to improve the cleanliness and waste disposal in the city and have already started segregation of wet and dry waste from households. A biogas plant at the Bhagtanwala dump is also scheduled to be set up which will improve the cleanliness of the city.”
However, authorities can hardly afford to be complacent as Amritsar still has a long way to go. Garbage remaines piled up in many parts of the city, most public toilets are in a bad shape with no maintenance or water supply. Plastic is yet to be banned and there are not enough dustbins and cleaning equipment. The green belts are unkempt and require proper care.
{{/usCountry}}However, authorities can hardly afford to be complacent as Amritsar still has a long way to go. Garbage remaines piled up in many parts of the city, most public toilets are in a bad shape with no maintenance or water supply. Plastic is yet to be banned and there are not enough dustbins and cleaning equipment. The green belts are unkempt and require proper care.
{{/usCountry}}Also, the biogas plant project at the Golden Temple is still hanging fire after 1.5 years as MC is yet to get approvals from the Amritsar Development Authority.
“We are working on numerous cleanliness projects in the city as our ranking is not up to the mark. We have hired a new private company for looking after cleanliness in the city and efforts are being made to get a more improved ranking next year,” Mittal added.