With the aim to get top rank in cleanliness, the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) has geared up for a “ward cleanliness ranking” competition under the Sewa Sankalp Abhiyan. The initiative will witness competitions among the city’s wards on cleanliness, solid waste management and citizen participation. Besides, a competition will be conducted among 11 municipal corporations of the state.
A special meeting of the MC House was held at the corporation office on Monday to discuss preparations for the ward-level competition. Mayor Renu Bala Gupta chaired the meeting, which was attended by Municipal Commissioner Saloni Sharma, councillors and senior officials of the civic body.
Gupta said detailed guidelines for the competition would be issued by the government soon, following which the competition would begin. She urged the councillors to start preparations in their wards and involve ward committees, RWAs, NGOs, volunteers, social workers and residents in the cleanliness drive. “Making Karnal city number one in cleanliness is not possible without active public participation,” she said, stressing the need to create an environment in which the residents take responsibility for keeping their wards clean.
She also called for focused efforts towards zero-waste wards, segregation of waste at source, development of cleanliness best-practice points and elimination of garbage-vulnerable points. Gupta suggested regular cleanliness drives and maximum participation of young people. “Each ward should involve its ward committee along with at least 10 workers and booth-level workers,” she said.
Gupta appealed to the residents to participate actively in the league with the spirit of “My Ward–Clean Ward”. She said coordinated efforts by the municipal corporation, councillors, social organisations, youth and residents could give Karnal a new identity in the field of cleanliness.
Sharma said the ward cleanliness ranking was aimed at creating healthy competition among wards while regularly assessing cleanliness arrangements, solid waste management and citizen participation. She said the corporation and councillors would have to work as a team to take the city’s cleanliness system to a higher level. The wards securing the first, second and third positions would be encouraged and honoured, while improvement plans would be prepared for wards receiving lower rankings and their progress monitored regularly.
She also laid emphasis on promoting the use of four bins—green, blue, red and black—under the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026. The councillors were asked to ensure that at least 100 households in every ward adopt the four-bin system. The initiative is aimed at improving segregation of waste at the household level and strengthening solid waste management. She also called for initiating home composting in at least 25 households in each ward, with the MC providing training to participating families on preparing compost from household waste.
“In the ward ranking several parameters will be asssessed, including overall cleanliness, 100 per cent door-to-door waste collection, source segregation of waste, cleanliness and maintenance of parks, enforcement of the single-use plastic ban, cleanliness of public and community toilets, cleanliness drives, zero-waste programmes, citizen participation and awareness, and zero-waste ward initiatives,” she said.
Additional Municipal Commissioner (AMC), Ashok Kumar informed that during the sanitation workers’ strike, the corporation had made special efforts to improve cleanliness in the city. He said 383 garbage-sensitive points had been eliminated and around 8,316 metric tonnes of waste lifted during the period.
