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· Punjab adjudged the best state in Sanitation
· Ranked 1st in entire North India
Chandigarh, March 9:
The Local Government Minister, Punjab, Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu has lauded the department for attaining top honour in the Swachh Survekshan-2019, the largest survey of its kind in the world held by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). In the survey, Punjab has been adjudged as Best State in Sanitation amongst all for its progressive initiatives towards ‘sustainable sanitation’ and has been given the prestigious award of the “Best performing state in sanitation”.
The results were declared on 6th March, 2019 by the President of India Mr. Ram Nath Kovind and the award ceremony was organised by MoHUA at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Disclosing more, an official spokesperson said that the survey covered 4237 urban local bodies throughout the country. After achieving good results in Swachh Survekshan- 2018, there was determination to work with holistic approach to bring the entire state at a par level. The result was all 167 cities being Open Defecation Free (ODF) and none failed in recertification and one city attained ODF+ and two cities got ODF++.
Detailing further, the spokesperson said that overall, the State of Punjab ranked 1st in North India and 7th in the country as against 9th rank last year. Coming up from bottom 10 states in Swachh Survekshan-2017 to 9th position in Swachh Survekshan-2018, the state has improved its position to 7th this time.
Elaborating more, the spokesperson said that in less than 1 lakh population category Municipal Council Nawanshahar was declared the cleanest city in North Zone amongst 1020 ULBs. It also got award for Garbage Free City Nawashahar (3 Star) . In addition to the above, 2 ULBs namely Dirbahas been awarded fastest moving city in North Zone and ULB. The Amritsar Cantonment Board has got the award of fastest mover cantonment Board. The 6 other cities namely Zira, Kharar, Bhogpur, Jalandhar Cantt, Bhai Rupa and Roopnagar have been awarded in different population categories.
In the above 1 lakh population category cities Bathinda and Patiala have attained 31st and 72nd rank respectively among 425 cities. Besides, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Abohar, Moga, Barnala, Muktsar and Batala have improved their ranking substantially over SS-2018. Of 1020 ULBs in Northern Zone below the population of 1 lakh, 32 ULBs of Punjab are in the top 100 rank.
The state of Punjab has got this position due to mass awareness and community mobilisation campaign launched about one year back with a strong team of about 500 Community Facilitators and Motivators through inter personal communication. Capacity building of Municipal staff and other stakeholders for scientific solid waste management has been other area of focus for cleanliness. The credit of this achievement goes to people of Punjab backed by strong support from top political leadership of the state for their adoption of best practices.
