Though selected as the number one Smart City a year ago, Odisha capital Bhubaneswar has now been placed at the 94th spot in the Swachh Survekshan-2017 sanitation rankings of cities and towns of India commissioned by the Union Ministry of Urban Development.
Among other cities and towns of Odisha, steel city Rourkela, which is the second Smart City, is ranked at the 168th place, silk city Brahmapur at 187th, Baleswar at 190th, Puri at 194th, Cuttack at 204th, Baripada at 261st, Sambalpur at 322th and Bhadrak at 349th position.
While Indore topped the list as the country’s cleanest city, the second spot was occupied by Bhopal and Visakhapatnam was placed at the third position.
The results of the survey were announced in New Delhi on Thursday by Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu.
The Quality Council of India, which conducted the survey during January-February this year, deployed 421 assessors for on-the-site inspection of cleanliness in 434 cities and towns and another 55 for real time monitoring of progress of survey and field inspections. Field inspectors used geo-tagged devices for collecting evidence in real time of their inspection at 17,500 locations.
The Swachh Survekshan-2017 aimed at capturing the outcomes on the ground of the ongoing efforts to make urban areas open defecation-free (ODF) and to improve door-to-door collection, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes. Of the total score of 2,000 marks, 900 were assigned for performance in respect of ODF and solid waste management, 600 marks for citizen feedback and 500 marks for independent observation.