Chandigarh, Sept. 30 -- The UT is set to take a major step towards emerging as a model city for urban cleanliness and sustainable waste management under the PRAGATI-50 initiative, launched on Tuesday by Union minister for housing and urban affairs, Manohar Lal, in New Delhi. The initiative envisages the development of 50 model cities across the country, with emphasis on achieving higher benchmarks in urban cleanliness, scientific solid waste management, used-water management, sanitation, technology-enabled monitoring and citizen participation. Mayor Saurabh Joshi, along with senior officers of the municipal corporation (MC), participated virtually in the national-level interaction.During the interaction, Joshi had the opportunity to present the city's priorities, initiatives and best practices before the national forum. Presenting Chandigarh's urban transformation journey, the mayor highlighted the transformation of the legacy waste site at Dadumajra, where sustained scientific remediation and environmental restoration efforts are changing a long-standing waste-management challenge into a greener and aesthetically improved landscape. A delegation of safai mitras met Joshi on Tuesday and placed several issues before him, with the compassionate appointment of 93 eligible family members for the safai mitras emerging as the most pressing concern. Taking immediate cognisance, the mayor wrote to the UT administration seeking priority approval of the 93 compassionate appointments, stressing that the affected families should not be made to wait any longer for relief....