A four-member team of the Union ministry of housing and urban development concluded the Swachh Survekshan for 2020 in Patiala on Saturday. The team, which had reached Patiala on Friday, visited random locations including public toilets and material recovery centres to conduct the cleanliness survey.
In results of the first two quarters of the Swachh Survekshan League 2020 — from April to September 2019 — as declared by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs on Tuesday, the Patiala MC scored 1,439.37 points.
In the first quarter (April to June), Patiala was ranked 199 nationally with 613.12 points, and in the second quarter (July to September), it improved the ranking and bagged 153rd rank with 826.25 points.
However, the calculations for the third quarter (Octorber to December) are still on and are to be completed following results of the annual survey.
MC commissioner Poonamdeep Kaur said that there are many stronghold areas of the Patiala municipal corporation which will help in further improving the city’s ranking this year.
“The survey is divided into four segments — certification, service level progress, direct observation and citizen feedback. The team has completed the field survey part,” the MC commissioner said.
In 2019, the city had ranked 72nd of total 4,237 urban local bodies surveyed across country. This ranking was a jump of 111 positions as Patiala was ranked 183rd in 2018. In 2017, Patiala was among the dirtiest cities in India as it had bagged 411th rank.
Questions raised over survey technique
Questioning the manner in which the survey was being conducted, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Harinder Kohli said that the survey was completely bogus as the Patiala municipal corporation employees assisted the centre’s team to visit places and thus took them to places of their own choice.
“Instead of giving a free hand to the inspection team from centre, the civic body officials took charge of the survey. The MC employees were seen accompanying the team everywhere. Moreover, the places visited by the team were cleaned just a few hours before the visit,” Kohli said.
However, refuting the claims, the MC commissioner said that the civic body has no role to play in the survey.
“The survey is done by the visiting inspecting team on the basis of the information that is provided by the urban local body concerned. The locations, which need to be checked by the assessors are not predetermined and are chosen in real time and is communicated online via a specific mobile app loaded on the phones of the inspection team,” she said.
She added that there is no chances of any discrepancies in the survey.
High hopes
The MC commissioner said that since the last survey, the municipal corporation has come up with six material recovery facility centres, having third-level segregation for dry waste management.
She added that underground bins have been provided at 84 locations across city, along with four compactors, to get rid of waste littered in open across the Royal City. To add to this, 375 composting pits have also been made at different locations across city.
“In wake of the cleanliness survey, the state was divided into seven zones and 20 teams were deputed to oversee the arrangements,” she said.
