The Karnal city has got a three-star rating and has been judged third in the garbage-free city rankings. Karnal is the only city of Haryana in the list of 22 cities. The condition to participate in the contest was that the city must have an ODF status. Karnal has the ODF-plus status.

Top performers: Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra bagged the top position (five-star rating) followed by Talala in Gujarat (three-star rating).

Criteria: A seven-star rating protocol has been defined for garbage-free cities, which builds on aspirations of cities to progress towards higher standards of cleanliness. The star rating is supported by a robust verification mechanism to ensure transparency and standardisation. The cities were judged on 25 parameters, including solid waste management, door-to-door wet and dry waste collection, dustbins placed in public places, beautification, cleanliness of surface water and drains, citizen feedback, land filling in scientific manner in solid waste plant and cleanliness.

Benefits: The third rank will help Karnal in the Swachh Survekshan 2020, which is going to be conducted in January, as the city has already secured 1,500 points out of total 6,000