Civic bodies given tips to ace Swachh Survekshan

Karnal, August 30

Officials and employees of 18 urban local bodies (ULBs) in the Karnal cluster, comprising Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal districts, were told to work to improve the Swachh Survekshan-2024 ranking. They were exhorted to work on segregation of waste, clearing of garbage in their cities, public and community toilets, citizen engagement programmes among other things so that the ranking of all 18 ULBs could be improved.

Niraj Kadiyan, Commissioner of the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC), while chairing a cluster one-day brainstorming workshop, urged officials and employees to focus on capacity-building for the Swachh Survekshan-2024.

In his address, Kadiyan emphasised that Swachh Survekshan was the largest cleanliness survey, with 4,800 ULBs participating in 2024. He said that the training programme would be instrumental in achieving excellence in the survey.

The Commissioner said the survey, which was a flagship programme of the Union Government, aimed at encouraging massive citizen participation, strengthening the spirit of healthy competition among cities, and bringing improvements in urban cleanliness and sanitation.

He said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had selected the “RRR” (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) theme for this year’s survey.

Kadiyan urged all participants to work with dedication, teamwork and innovative approaches, expressing confidence that the training programme would serve as a milestone in achieving the set goals.

The training session was conducted by experts from the Project Management Consultant (PMC), hired by the Directorate of Urban Local Bodies for the Swachh Bharat Mission. They provided details of all components of Swachh Survekshan-2024, explaining how to secure good scores in various categories.

They informed the participants that a total of 9,500 points had been allocated for this year’s Swachh Survekshan, with significant emphasis on service-level progress, which accounts for 5,705 points. Additionally, 2,500 points are designated for certification and 1,295 points for the public movement.

Key areas under service-level progress include door-to-door waste collection, source segregation, processing of dry and wet waste, plastic waste management, grievance redressal, complete ban on single-use plastic, proper maintenance of community and public toilets, RRR centres, self-reliant wards, Zero Waste Events, MRF centres, C and D waste management, RDF and sanitary landfills.