Indore was adjudged India’s cleanest city for a fourth straight year while Surat and Navi Mumbai grabbed the second and third positions, respectively, as the Centre announced the results of its latest annual cleanliness survey on Thursday.
Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha, was adjudged the “Best Ganga Town” in the country, followed by Kanpur, Munger, Prayagraj and Haridwar.
Chhattisgarh was given the “Cleanest State” award in the category of states having more than 100 urban local bodies, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
The Swachh Survekshan awards 2020 — the fifth annual cleanliness survey of the country — were announced by Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri at a ceremony where 129 awards were given in different categories.
The survey brochure describes the New Delhi Municipal Council as “India’s Cleanest National Capital (National or State Capitals/UT)”. The NDMC comprises large part of Rajpath and the VIP zone of Lutyens’ Delhi. A total of 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 97 Ganga towns were surveyed, and 1.87 crore citizens participated in the exercise, according to the government.
Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh has been ranked the cleanest city in the category of 1-10 lakh population, followed by Mysore in Karnataka and New Delhi Municipal area.
The Jalandhar cantonment board had been ranked first while Delhi cantonment board and Meerut cantonment board have grabbed second and third positions, respectively.
According to the survey results, Jharkhand was adjudged the “Cleanest State” in the category of having less than 100 ULBs, followed by Haryana, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam and Himachal Pradesh.
Indore has topped the ranking in the cleanest city category (having more than one lakh population), and is followed by Surat, Navi Mumbai. Vijaywada and Ahmedabad in that order.
Nasik has been ranked 25th, while Bihar’s Patna 47th, North Delhi and East Delhi 43rd and 46th positions in the cleanest city category.
In the category of population of less than 1 lakh, Maharashtra’s Karad bagged the first position, followed by Saswad and Lonavala.
After announcing the results, Puri said, “Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness survey) will continue to help us in sustaining the gains made under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban, while providing a comprehensive road map to institutionalise the concept of total swachhata among all our cities.”
Greater Hyderabad has been given the “Best Mega City” award in the category of “Citizen Feedback”.
Chandigarh has been awarded as “Best Union Territory in Citizen Feedback”, while Gandhi Nagar has been ranked as “Best State Capital in Innovation and Best Practices”.
Union housing and urban affairs secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said that “Swachh Survekshan 2020 had an overwhelming scale with the survey team visiting over 58,000 residential and over 20,000 commercial areas covering over 64,000 wards in a mere 28 days”.
Jharkhand’s Madhpur Nagar Parishad has been awarded as “Best City in Citizen Feedback — East Zone”.
