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Swachh Survekshan 2020: Chandigarh misses Top 10 spot again, restricted to 16th position
City’s rank improves from last year’s 20, thanks to it doubling its score in the certifications parameter.
The City Beautiful failed to make it to the top 10 cleanest cities in the country for the second year in a row, but improved its ranking from last year’s 20 to 16 in the latest Swachh Survekshan rankings announced on Thursday.
Chandigarh was also adjudged the “Best State Capital/Union Territory” in citizens’ feedback.
It was in 2018 last when Chandigarh was ranked among the top 10 cities – the third cleanest. The good run ended with UT dropping to the 20th position in last year’s rankings.
Indore in Madhya Pradesh continued to reign as the country’s cleanest city (having population of more than 1 lakh). Surat in Gujarat, which was ranked 14 last year, jumped to the second position. Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra climbed to the third position from last year’s seventh.
Indore scored 94.12% (5,647.56 out of 6,000), while Chandigarh got 82.83% (4,970), improving from 2019’s score of 75.74%.
The Swachh Survekshan is conducted to study the progress of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and rank cities based on cleanliness and sanitation parameters. Four parameters were used for arriving at the overall ranking of a city – certifications (1,500), direct observation (1,500), service level progress (1,500) and citizen feedback (1,500).
WHAT PUSHED CITY UP?
A major factor in the city’s climb from 20th to 16th position was it doubling its score in the certifications parameter.
There are two categories under this parameter - garbage free cities (GFC) star certification and open defecation free (ODF) certification.
It achieved ODF++ from the earlier ODF ranking. Similarly, it gained 3-Star GFC status against the previous 2-Star GFC. Consequently, it improved its score from 40% marks last year to 73.33% this year in the certification category.
Had the city got the 5-Star GFC certification, which it had applied for, it would have broken into the top 10 list. But, its claim was downgraded to a mere 3-Star rating.
WHAT’S HOLDING CITY BACK
Municipal corporation’s poor solid waste management, particularly waste segregation and disposal, led to continued poor showing of country’s first planned city in the 2020 rankings.
This was reflected in city’s marks dropping from 90% last year to 76.33% this year in the service level progress parameter, which is largely indicative of efficiency in solid waste management.
DIFFERING VIEWS
Former Union railway minister and UT member of Parliament Pawan Kumar Bansal said, “According to a report of the Centre for Science and Environment, based on Swatch Bharat Mission inputs, Chandigarh has recorded 90% waste processing, 100% door-to-door garbage collection and 95% waste segregation in 24 of 26 wards. These high claims are not only untrue but border on the ludicrous and bizarre.”
“It is shameful that even after spending crores on the segregation and disposal of waste, the BJP-led MC has failed miserably,” said Devinder Singh Babla, Congress leader of opposition in MC
On the other hand, mayor Raj Bala Malik said, “Sanitation and cleanliness has improved since last year, which the positive citizen feedback substantiates. Only due to Congress’s legacy, the waste treatment plant and dumping site has slowed down our progress. We have started mining of legacy waste and taken over the plant. So, we will improve on these parameters also next year.”
“We couldn’t be in top 6, because we didn’t get 5-star GFC certification. We have scored well in citizen feedback. The city has become much cleaner, but we need to improve on solid waste management, which we are working on,” said KK Yadav, MC commissioner.