For the fifth time in a row, Indore has topped the Government of India’s annual cleanliness survey Swachh Survekshan 2021 becoming the cleanest city in the country. The following positions, second and third, were claimed by Surat and Vijaywada respectively in the category of cities with over 10 lakh population.
New Delhi topped the survey in the category of smaller cities with a population between 1-10 lakh. While Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh stood second and third respectively. Making it to the top in the category of Ganga town, Varanasi secured the first rank and Munger and Patna followed claiming second and third ranks.
Chhattisgarh secured the first rank becoming the cleanest state in the country among the states with over 100 urban local bodies (ULBs). Securing the second and the third positions, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh followed. Meanwhile, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan got the lowest scores securing last ranks.
In the rankings of the states with less than 100 ULBs, Jharkhand, Haryana and Goa secured the top ranks while Meghalaya, Kerala and Tripura were ranked at the bottom of the list.
Among the cantonment areas, Ahmedabad Cantonment was ranked the cleanest followed by Meerut Cantonment and Delhi Cantonment.
President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind, while presenting the awards called Swachh Survekshan awards of the present year “special” as the country is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav on the account of 75 years of India’s Independence. Acknowledging the services of sanitation workers and appreciating them for their work, the President said, “Safaimitras and sanitation workers have continuously rendered their services, even during the COVID pandemic.”
Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said, “Today, the Swachh Bharat Mission has taken the shape of a people’s movement, a true Jan Andolan. This is also reflected in the massive growth of the Swachh Survekshan which began as a pilot in 2016 among 73 cities and is the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey today.” Speaking of the future focus area and the way forward, the Minister said that the next few years will be dedicated to “holistic cleanliness – clean air, clean land, and clean water.”
Also Read: Varanasi cleanest Ganga city, Indore cleanest city in Swachh Survekshan 2021
The Swachh Survekshan survey’s results are based on assessments by field officers and citizens’ feedback on the garbage disposal, open defecation free ratings, functionality and maintenance of community toilets and safe management of faecal sludge from the toilets.
A new performance category “Prerak Daaur Samman” was added to this year’s Survekshan and under that five cities including Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi Municipal Council and Tirupati were named ‘divya’ (platinum).
