2022 Swachh Survekshan: Panchkula rallies with 13-slot jump, ranks 86th

At the state level, Panchkula ranked fourth among 14 districts, two notches below last year’s ranking; the city was surpassed by Gurgaon, Rohtak and Karnal

Waste segregation held Panchkula in good stead with its rank improving by 13 notches in the Swachh Survekshan rankings announced on Saturday.

Panchkula mayor Kulbushan Goyal said if the city had solid waste management, and construction and demolition waste recycling plants, it could have improved its score even further. (HT Photo)

It stood 86th in the country among 382 cities with a population between 1 lakh and 10 lakh, an improvement from last year’s 99th position.

At the state level, Panchkula ranked fourth among 14 districts, two notches below last year’s ranking. The city was surpassed by Gurgaon, Rohtak and Karnal.

Scoring 4273 out of 7500 marks (57%), the city improved its performance only marginally from last year’s 54.7%, when it had got 3283 out of 6000 marks.

At 72.1%, its best score came in the citizens’ voice category, while it scored 68.3% in service-level progress.

Just like Mohali, Panchkula too scored nothing in the certification for “garbage free city”, reflecting the need to improve cleanliness of market areas, residential areas, drains, water bodies, daily sweeping in residential areas and poor solid waste processing. It also lost points in cleanliness of public toilets. Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal said, “We are already working for a better ranking in 2023. However, we need the support of citizens too, as we cannot beautify the city without their help.”

At 72.1%, its best score came in the citizens’ voice category, while it scored 68.3% in service-level progress. (HT)

Panchkula municipal corporation joint commissioner Deepak Sura said, “We primarily lagged behind in solid waste management.”

“If we had solid waste management, and construction and demolition waste recycling plants, the city could have improved its score even further. However, work related to floating tenders has been hanging fire for a long time,” the mayor said.

SK Nayar, president, Resident Welfare Association, said the municipal corporation had been promising to put the issue of solid waste management to bed for a long time, but had failed time and again, which was reflecting in the cleanliness rankings.

Meanwhile, Kalka ranked 49th on the national level and 10th on state-level. The city fared poorly in roads’ maintenance, collection of segregated waste and citizen grievance redressal.