Mohali slips to worst show ever

MOHALI : Continuing its image of Chandigarh’s poor cousin, in its worst show ever, Mohali further slipped to the 157th position in the Swachh Survekshan rankings declared on Thursday.

The city even dropped to the seventh position in Punjab from the 4th spot last year.

Mohali performed its best in 2018 when it was ranked 109, only to fare poorly at the 153th position in 2019.

This year, the city scored just 46.5% marks (2,790/6,000), against the 94.12% scored by Indore, India’s cleanest city.

Reflected in just 215 marks out of 1,500 in the service level progress parameter, failure to get garbage management projects off the ground became Mohali’s undoing.

MC’S ambitious solid-waste management project at Samgoli village has remained a nonstarter with the state government failing to expedite it.

Besides, the civic body has failed to start garbage segregation at source in most areas, while door-to-door garbage collection also remains irregular.

It also failed to ensure an opendefecation free (ODF) status for the city by constructing adequate mobile and public toilets – crucial for attaining a smart city status.

MC’S plans to spend ₹97.8 lakh on construction of public toilets also remain only on paper.

Hence, the city scored just 300 out of 1,500 marks in the ODF certification. The city scored highest in citizen feedback (1,119/1,500), followed by 1,115 out of 1,500 marks in direct observation. “We worked really hard, but could not achieve the required rank. We will focus on the grey areas and ensure the ranking is improved next year,” said MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg.