Surat, Navi Mum 2nd, 3rd; Chhattisgarh cleanest State; NDMC cleanest Capital city
Indore has been ranked the cleanest city for the fourth consecutive year and Chhattisgarh the cleanest State for the second time under the Swachchh Survekshan 2020 ranking released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Thursday. Surat and Navi Mumbai were ranked second and third, respectively. According to the ranking, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the cleanest Capital city in India.
Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, has been chosen as the cleanest town on the banks of river Ganga and Jharkhand was adjudged the cleanest state of India among those with less than 100 urban local bodies (ULBs) or cities. PM Narendra Modi, who was originally supposed to announce the results, could not attend the event.
According to the ranking, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the cleanest Capital city while Bengaluru adjudged the Best Self Sustainability award in the Mega city category. Among the cities with over one lakh population, Indore was ranked number one, followed by Surat, Navi Mumbai, Ambikapur, Mysore, Vijayawada, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Chandrapur and Khargone. Among smaller cities, with population under one lakh, the top three cities - Karad, Sasvad and Lonavala - were all from Maharashtra. The survey, which covered 4,242 cities and saw the participation of 1.87 crore citizens, was completed in 28 days.
On this occasion, Union Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri today gave away the awards to the winning cities and States of Swachchh Survekshan 2020 at a virtual event titled Swachh Mahotsav organised by the Ministry.
In 2019, Indore was awarded the cleanest city in the country while Bhopal was declared the cleanest Capital. Ujjain bagged the award for being the cleanest city in the population category of 3 lakh to 10 lakh. Indore had retained the top spot in the survey for three consecutive years. “Four times in a row the cleanest city in the country! We will progress together to fulfill the dream of a prosperous MP with Swachh MP”, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted soon after results of the Swachh Sarvekshan 2020 were announced.
Chhattisgarh was ranked the cleanest State out of those with over 100 cities, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh while Jharkhand was the cleanest among those with less than 100 urban local bodies (ULBs) or cities. In the category of “Ganga towns”, Varanasi, has been chosen as the cleanest town on the banks of river Ganga. “Heartiest congratulations to PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, who represents the city in Lok Sabha, for his visionary leadership which has inspired the people of the town for this achievement,” the Union Minister said.
Jalandhar got the top rank among cantonments category. A total of 6 cities (Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru) have been rated as 5-star cities, 86 cities have been rated 3-Star and 64 cities have been rated 1-Star, as per Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free Cities. According to the ministry, 4,324 urban local bodies have declared open defecation free so far while 1,319 cities certified ODF plus and 489 ODF ++.
Speaking about the Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban, Puri said it had had a deep impact on health, livelihoods, quality of life and behaviour, which had come in handy when dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. When the mission was launched in 2014, waste processing was 18 percent. Now it had increased to 66 percent. “The mainstreaming of informal waste workers, provision of social security schemes and safety gear to all sanitation workers, dignity, recognition and welfare of sanitation workers and their families was accorded due importance,” Puri said. He added that the survey team visited over 58,000 residential and over 20,000 commercial areas covering over 64,000 wards-all in 28 days.
