Ludhiana | MC officials on toes as Swachh Survekshan team starts inspections

A third-party team, comprising five to six persons, tasked with Swachh Survekshan 2022 survey, visited various parts of Ludhiana on Wednesday; the team is uploading pictures of various sites and also taking feedback from residents

Municipal corporation (MC) employees remained on their toes as inspections under Swachh Survekshan 2022 commenced on Wednesday.

Ludhiana had dropped five spots and was ranked 39 out of 48 cities across the country last year under Swachh Survekshan 2022. The MC is still lagging behind on majority of the fronts and the ranking might further dip this time. (HT File/Representational image)

A third-party team, comprising five to six persons, tasked by the Ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) to conduct the annual cleanliness survey, visited various parts of the city, including sewer treatment plants (STP), community and public toilets, main dump site of MC on Tajpur Road among other areas. The team had reached the city two days ago, but field inspections started on Wednesday.

The team is uploading pictures of various sites and also taking feedback from residents. They are also checking the condition of roads. As per information, the field inspections are expected to continue for two to three days.

Officials are tight-lipped over the visit, but teams have been deployed across the city to ensure cleanliness. An employee, requesting anonymity, stated that the team is inspecting areas randomly as they have already got GPS locations of different sites across the city. The schedule of their visit to different areas is not available to the civic body, but the department is on its toes to ensure cleanliness.

MC commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said teams will conduct inspections as per their schedule as the civic body has no role in the same.

The civic body has been struggling with solid waste management after A2Z company terminated the contract with the civic body on February 4. While the civic body has roped in a third party on temporary basis for shifting garbage generated in the city to the main dump site on Tajpur road, the waste processing unit at the main site has completely come to a halt. Over 1m100 metric tonnes of garbage is generated in the city on a daily basis and around 20 lakhs metric tonnes of garbage (legacy waste) has accumulated at the dump site (landfill) over the last many years.

Open secondary garbage dumps at different parts of the city are an eyesore resulting in unhygienic conditions in the surrounding areas. The authorities’ claim of segregation of waste is just on papers. However, the ground reality is completely different and waste segregation is negligible. The civic body has also failed to establish Construction and Demolition (C and D) waste plant, even as the project has been hanging fire for years. In absence of the plant, waste is dumped in open spaces and green belts across the city, which also adds to pollution.

Even as the city dropped five spots and was ranked 39 out of 48 cities across the country last year, the MC is still lagging behind on majority of the fronts and the ranking might further dip this time.