Pimpri Chinchwad has secured the cleanest city ranking in Swachh Survekshan (File Photo)Even though the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has been ranked the cleanest city in Maharashtra among cities with a population of over one million in the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26, residents and civic activists have disputed the recognition, saying the city still needs significant improvement, especially in waste segregation and disposal infrastructure.President Droupadi Murmu presented the award at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal was among those present. Mayor Ravi Landge and Commissioner Dr Vijay Suryawanshi accepted the honour on behalf of PCMC.Rohit Dokh, an IT professional from Pimple Saudagar, welcomed the achievement but said many localities still face problems. “The achievement is surely welcome and encouraging. However, I am surprised that PCMC won while still having so many problems with garbage such as in Pimple Saudagar and Rahatani, and others, where garbage piles up along roads and on open spaces,” he said.He called for more regular garbage collection and stricter segregation. “The frequency of waste collection vehicles needs to be regularised, and segregation of waste at source, at least into dry and wet waste, should be enforced. Such segregation was strictly enforced during the tenure of the then PCMC commissioner Rajesh Patil,” Dokh said. He added that residents also have a role to play. “It is equally the residents’ duty to keep our neighbourhood clean and not throw garbage on open plots.”Vaishali Dalvi, founder of The Guardian NGO, said conditions vary across the city. “The situation is quite good in some areas like Pradhikaran. And it can be said relatively better than other big cities in Maharashtra. But several slum pockets, such as Bijli Nagar, still see garbage vans coming less frequently, sometimes only once a week,” she said.According to Dalvi, this pushes people to dump garbage along roads, creating further hygiene and sanitation problems. “The parameters on which the award was based should be made public to bring in more transparency,” she said.Pritam Bansode, a college student from Nigdi, questioned the timing of the award, which comes after the recent deaths at the Moshi garbage depot. “Nine innocent lives were recently lost at Moshi’s garbage depot, so we shouldn’t be proud of this. I was actually surprised when the award was declared,” he said.Story continues below this adHe welcomed the move to decentralise waste depots after the Moshi landfill collapse but said more must be done. “Efforts should be made to recycle waste at source, such as by composting, and the civic administration should incentivise this. Along Bhosari Phata, there are still heaps of garbage and construction debris that have been lying there for months,” Bansode said.The Indian Express contacted PCMC’s Health Department several times via phone, WhatsApp, and text, for a response but received no reply.Shubham Kurale is a journalist based in Pune and has studied journalism at the Ranade Institute. He ... Read More