Adding another feather to its cap, the Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) has been declared the ‘best big city in innovation and best practices’ under the Swachh Survekshan- 2020 rankings released on Thursday.
The results were announced during a virtual ceremony organised by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs, Government of India, on Thursday, to celebrate the Swachh Mahotsav.
The city stood 34th among 47 big cities (having a population 10 to 40 lakh) in the overall rankings with 3113.06 points out of 6,000. Amritsar, which also contested in the same category, secured the 39th rank.
The Swachh Survey is divided into three quarters. In the previous two quarters, Ludhiana had secured the 40th and 38th positions.
MC officials said that the city had adopted innovative practices such as composting, segregation of household waste, distribution of cloth bags to do away with plastic bags, encouraging vertical gardens, involvement of councillors and religious bodies for special drives among others.
Congratulating the MC staff and residents for the feat, mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “It is an outcome of the hard work put in by sweepers, sewermen, MC officials, MC General House and residents of the city. We will put in more efforts for the Swachh Survekshan 2021 and hope that the residents will also support the civic body.”
{{/usCountry}}Congratulating the MC staff and residents for the feat, mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “It is an outcome of the hard work put in by sweepers, sewermen, MC officials, MC General House and residents of the city. We will put in more efforts for the Swachh Survekshan 2021 and hope that the residents will also support the civic body.”
{{/usCountry}}CITY’S RANKINGS IN THE PAST
In 2019, the city stood 163rd rank out of 4,237 cities, while in 2018, it had secured the 137th position out of 485 cities with over 1 lakh population. The city stood at the 140th position out of 434 cities in 2017 and 34th out of 50 cities in 2016.
WHERE THE CITY LAGGED THIS TIME
All cities are judged on four parameters-- direction observation, citizen feedback, service level progress, certification. Each parameter has a weightage of 1,500 marks. Ludhiana MC secured 1,115 marks under direct observation, 1,070.27 under citizens’ feedback, 627.29 in service level progress and 300 marks under certification.
OPEN DUMPING STILL A PROBLEM HERE
The Ludhiana MC is yet to finding a solution to open dumping in the city. Apart from that it has not been able to do anything about 24 lakh tones of legacy waste dumped at the main dumping site. MC officials say static compactors are being installed to do away with open dumping of garbage, however, as per residents, the problem is far from over.