Babus take credit for UT swachh ranking; but locals say garbage collection, disposal biggest problem

The document mentions top six challenges. Among the challenges listed are garbage collection, disposal and cleanliness, increasing traffic, outsiders/paying guest students, parking issue, pollution and crime and drugs.

It was specified, “Garbage collection and proper disposal of waste is the most mentioned problem by citizens of Chandigarh. The next most recurring problem is the increasing traffic and resultant parking issue because of rising number ofvehicles.”

Even as city residents said that they feel safe and the city is a peaceful city, another problem which troubled them is the growing paying guest culture which is resulting in crime and drug abuse.

“Though overall citizens feel that Chandigarh is a safe and peaceful city, there is a growing concern about crime and drug abuse. The problem is strongly linked with the paying guests in the city which is also making the citizens concerned about their culture and impact on the next generation,” the document specified.

It was elaborated that the increasing traffic was related to increasing parking chaos as well.

“Amongst the current challenges faced by the citizens of Chandigarh, the most troublesome is the garbage collection and disposal followed by increasing traffic and parking problem. There is also some concern with the crime and drug abuse which is closely associated with outsiders coming to Chandigarh and the paying guest culture,” it was mentioned.

No proper waste processing

While city administration patted its back for getting 12th cleanest rank across the country, it is yet to have a proper waste processing in the city. Last year, the general house had approved getting a waste-to-energy plant and later, the administration decided that since it would take time, they would upgrade the present plant, which is already in a shambles.

The sole processing plant was being operated by the Jaypee group, the contract of which was terminated by the municipal corporation in 2020, following issues of not processing the entire garbage and rather dumping it in the dumping ground. Then, the municipal corporation had said that they would be operating it with whatever capacity until a firm comes to make it fully operational.

Due to the absence of proper waste processing, the majority of the same was being dumped at the dumping ground.

Garbage collection by civic body

It was only recently that the collection of waste from households was taken over from the independent waste collectors by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The corporation had that time said that it would help them in enforcing segregation at the household level which the independent waste collectors would not have done so.

Future-ready vision specifies the themes

The vision document specifies the themes and how citizens felt about it.

Under “City that Cares” and how citizens of Chandigarh felt about the same it was mentioned that “We are City Beautiful – because we will be a city that ‘Cares for all its inhabitants” and the residents believed in to “become nurturing – create effective governance systems, ensuring information and knowledge transfer to citizens and relevant beneficiaries, then “Become inclusive – ensure spatial, economic, social and digital inclusion of the under served and marginalised sections of the community and “Become safe (especially for children and women, for groups that face discrimination and violence and for senior citizens).

It was mentioned that the theme “city that cares for all its inhabitants” has a very strong appeal score.

“People especially related to ‘City that cares’ as a modern city that takes care of citizens in all aspects. Some have even related to this theme with the lifestyle people seek in other countries, especially Canada. However, concept of inclusivity and nurturing was not fully comprehended, and as a result, lost its appeal slightly. It would require rewording for this theme to have a better understanding which will subsequently improve the score. However, people from lower strata & people from both younger and older age group related more to this theme. Many people also felt that this theme includes all other things such as ‘clean and green city’, ‘economic development’ and ‘nature-based lifestyle’,” the document says.

It mentioned some of the verbatims mentioned by the citizens that “this is a very good concept because as we know that everyone wants to go to Canada and other countries and we can compare our Chandigarh with those cities because we can have all the facilities of education, health, wealth, nature and safety here as in those countries” and also that “if you have such facilities and city that cares, no one will move out of Chandigarh to other cities and countries. When you say care for all, it means it will have everything for all its citizens. Care for all means it will care for its inhabitants health, economic, safety and other facilities”.

The document has sub-heads such as “Become safe”, that ensures “Health & Wellness”, and “Human Capital development”.

Epicentre of health tourism

“Epicentre of Health Tourism” were the most liked elements of themes. A safe city resonated well with a city that cares and hence was most liked. Development of human capital leading to economic development was also felt to be part of “city that cares”. Similarly, “good health and well-being” and “becoming an epicentre of health tourism” evoked both pride and aligned with the overall theme of “city that cares”.

The document specifies, “We had also asked citizens to suggest some alternate themes. Most people just reworked and combined the themes that were tested to come up with a combination. City beautiful or city forever beautiful has strong connect with the people. In addition, people want their city to be caring, safe and achieve green economic development.”