Swachh Survekshan 2018: Mohali, Panchkula remain Chandigarh’s ‘poor’ cousins

The two cities failed to make a cut in the top 100.

Notwithstanding yearlong campaigns and claims of civic authorities, Panchkula and Mohali continue to remain Chandigarh’s poor cousins when it comes to sanitation.

The two cities failed to make a cut in the top 100 cities ranked under the nationwide Swachh Survekshan 2018.

However, both Panchkula and Mohali have jumped from 211 to 142 and 121 to 109, respectively.

Like Chandigarh, both these cities have fared badly when it comes to solid waste management. The absence of a processing plant has hit them both.

Panchkula municipal commissioner Rajesh Jogpal said: “Due to non-availability of a sufficient number of processing units, recycling centres and scientific sanitary landfills, the civic body was unable to get a good rank this time.” The city got 214 points of 1400 in service-level progress, much less than the state and national average.

Mohali was at the top in Punjab last year. Despite improving the rank, it has lost the top spot to Bathinda. It’s service-level progress score of 309 is better than the state and national average.

Mohali municipal commissioner Sandeep Hans said: “After going through the detailed report, we will work on the grey areas. We have been working towards making the town cleaner and to establish a solid waste management plant.”