Setback: Panchkula gets zero star in garbage-free rating

MC commissioner says had applied under 5-star rating category, still eligible for 3-star category

In a setback for the district, Panchkula’s waste management system has received zero star in the latest garbage-free rating released by the central government on Tuesday.

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However, the municipal corporation (MC) officials are claiming that it happened because they had applied in the 5-star rating category but are still eligible for the 3-star rating category.

Under this initiative of the ministry of housing and urban affairs, seven stars are awarded to a city with the perfect waste management system.

Last year, the city had applied for a 3-star rating and achieved two stars in the garbage free city rating. It also featured among the top cities under the open defecation-free (ODF) certification, one of the factors that helped it improve the ranking. MC commissioner Sumedha Kataria termed this year’s rating a “setback” and said the ratings didn’t paint the true picture for the district. “Though it is a setback, we still qualify for a 3-star rating. We were ambitious to apply under the 5-star rating category. We will appeal for a review in this regard,” said Kataria.

There are three parameters for GFC rating—mandatory parameters, essential parameters and desirable parameters. These include various components such as door-to-door waste collection, segregation at source, litter bins, waste processing, grievance redressal, bulk waste generators compliance, scientific landfill (waste disposed), screening of nallahs, construction and demolition waste (segregation, storage, processing and recycling) among others.

As per the figures, Panchkula MC has achieved 55% score in mandatory parameters, 51.25% in essential parameters and 20% in desirable parameters. “The Swachh Survekshan 2020 certification category weightage is of 1,500 marks (star rating and ODF) which makes for 25% of the total marks. Only the star rating result (1,000 marks) is out while the overall result is pending,” she said. In last year’s overall Swachh Survekshan ranking, Panchkula had achieved the 71st rank.

Panchkula had made improvement in its Swachhta League rank by getting the 54th rank and the fourth position in Haryana in the Swachh Survekshan 2020 league for the first quarter released by the Government of India on December 31 last year.