Indore in Madhya Pradesh has been named the cleanest city in the country for the fourth consecutive time according to Swachh Survekshan, the annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India . Minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri announced the survey results Thursday.
Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra have ranked second and third respectively among cities with populations of more than 1 lakh.
In cities with a population of less than 1 lakh, Karad, Saswad and Lonavla in Maharashtra ranked in the first three positions.
“Our efforts going forward will be on safe containment, transportation and disposal of faecal sludge and septage from toilets, and also the grey and black water from households and establishments. Along with this, the treatment of all wastewater before discharging into water bodies, and their maximum possible re-use will also be our priority,”Puri said after announcing the results.
The survey ranked 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 92 Ganga towns, which account for a population of approximately 1.87 crore people in the country. Swachh Survekshan was introduced by the government to generate citizen participation in the Swachh Bharat Mission and to also inculcate a spirit of healthy competition among cities towards becoming India’s cleanest cities.
“Alongside, I am also concerned about the safety of our sanitation workers, our frontline warriors in this ‘Kranti’. Therefore, provision of adequate safety gear and mechanized equipment to all sanitation workers will be paid maximum attention in the next phase of the Mission,” Puri added.
The first survey was conducted in 2016, and it ranked 73 major cities. While Mysuru won the award for the cleanest city of India in the first edition of the survey, Indore has retained the top position for three consecutive years thereon.
Under Swachh Survekshan 2020, to ensure continuous assessment and sustainability of on-ground performance of cities, the government had also introduced Swachh Survekshan League, a quarterly cleanliness assessment of cities and towns conducted across three quarters, with 25% weightage integrated into the final Swachh Survekshan results for this year.
The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 with the aim to make India clean and free of open defecation.
