Highlights
- Ludhiana ranked 140 in last year’s Swachh Survekshan
- Civic body officials spoke to students about the Swachhta app
- The city's civic body is determined to invite further citizen participation
To make citizens more aware of the importance of waste management and maintaining cleanliness, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (LMC) organised for a mass signature collection event during the SARAS Mela at the Punjab Agricultural University on October 14. The event was also intended as a platform to make people of Ludhiana aware about the upcoming Swachh Survekshan 2018. Ludhiana ranked an average 140 out of 434 cities in Swachh Survekshan 2017 rankings, and is determined to improve its position this year. The rankings, released by the Ministry of Urban Development will assess 4,041 cities and towns this year, thus making the competition far wider.
Officials from Ludhiana Municipal Corporation were present at the event, which saw the collection of nearly five hundred signatures in little over three hours. To ensure that citizen participation by residents of Ludhiana was better this time, officials at the event spoke to students from both schools and colleges and asked for their cooperation in a bigger and more organised manner this time. To ensure better participation of students in the upcoming Survekshan, LMC officials demonstrated how students can download and use the Swachhta app on their phone, which will enable the civic body to cater better to complaints and work further towards civic development of the city.
Our rank in the previous Survekshan was not up to the mark and we are determined to make it better this time. We also know that the competition this year is much more vast, so we have to improve our performance. We have decided to rope in school and college students to make them more aware of both the Survekshan and how they can contribute to take Ludhiana to better rankings in the Survekshan, said Jaskiran Singh, Municipal Commissioner, Ludhiana Municipal Commissioner.
The LMC officials also spoke at length about the components of the Survekshan, as well as about the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan itself. Important points stressed on during the meet were the concepts of waste segregation, waste disposal, open defecation and how these could impact the rankings of the city. They spoke on the importance of segregating waste, curbing down on the use of plastic and keeping the surroundings clean. Involvement of larger number of citizens will ensure that the city is kept cleaner and the objectives of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan adhered to in an effective manner.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a people’s movement and larger the number of people who get involved, the better it is for a town or city. We want more people to get involved in cleaning up the city, so that the cleanliness movement remains an inclusive one, said Mr Singh.
Ludhiana’s rank last year may seem on the lower side, but compared to previous rankings, the city has improved at an impressive speed. In 2015, the city was ranked 381 out of 476 and in 2016 it ranked 34 out of 73. Though the city has improved drastically from its 2015 rankings, it still reels under the problem of several uncovered garbage spots, which the municipality plans to convert into well-constructed dumps by the end of this year so that garbage can be disposed of in these spots in an organised manner. The civic body is confident that this year, solid waste management and citizens’ feedback are the two areas which will see significant improvement. The municipal corporation aims to become the first city from Punjab to enter the top 100 cities in Swachh Survekshan 2018.
