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Swachh Survekshan 2021: Indore bags cleanest city tag for fifth consecutive year
The results of the survey were announced by President Ram Nath Kovind, who gave away the awards in the presence of Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri and others at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’, at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday
Madhya Pradesh’s Indore was adjudged the cleanest city for the fifth consecutive year by Swachh Survekshan 2021, the central government’s annual cleanliness survey to promote sanitation in urban centres under the Swachh Bharat Mission. Chhattisgarh retained the first position in the “cleanest state” title.
The results of the survey were announced by President Ram Nath Kovind, who gave away the awards in the presence of Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri and others at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’, at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday.
Surat and Vijayawada were ranked as the second and third cleanest cities, respectively, with a population of over 1 million. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) was adjudged the cleanest city with a population of below 1 million, while Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati bagged the second and third place in the same category, respectively. The NDMC area also ranked first in the “India’s cleanest small city” category having a population between 1 lakh and 3 lakh.
Among states having more than 100 urban local bodies (ULBs), Maharashtra was ranked the second cleanest after Chhattisgarh, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Bihar was the worst performer in this category.
Jharkhand, for the second time, was given the cleanest state award in the “less than 100 ULBs category”. This was followed by Haryana and Goa. Meghalaya was at the bottom of the list in this segment.
“Mahatma Gandhi used to say that cleanliness is next to godliness… Safai Mitras and sanitation workers have continuously rendered their services even during the Covid-19 pandemic. The government is committed to ensure that the life of no sanitation worker is put at risk due to unsafe cleaning practices,” the President said in his address.
“On October 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban 2.0 with the goal of making all cities waste-free by 2026. It is obvious that a garbage-free city requires houses, streets and localities to remain garbage-free. The responsibility of the success of this campaign lies with the government as well as all the citizens. We have to ensure that everyone segregates wet and dry waste at home,” he added.
Puri said the achievements under the Swachh Bharat Mission (urban) have been the result of unprecedented collective efforts.
“This is also reflected in the massive growth of the Swachh Survekshan which began as a pilot in 2016 among 73 cities. The next few years will be dedicated to focusing on holistic cleanliness, i.e. clean air, clean land, and clean water,” he said.
With the participation of 4,320 cities, the MOHUA said that the sixth edition of Swachh Survekshan has become the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey.
In its debut survey in 2016, the Centre had witnessed the participation of 73 cities. The number gradually rose to 434 in the following year.
In 2018, the scale of survey and intensity of participation increased with 4,203 cities and in 2019, the ministry covered 4,237 cities. In 2020, it marginally increased to 4,242.
“Despite the on-ground challenges posed by Covid-19, a team of over 2,000 assessors visited over 65,000 wards in a record time of 28 days. This year’s Survekshan, participated by 4,320 cities, also saw an unprecedented number of citizens’ feedback – over 5 crores, compared to 1.87 cores last year. SS 2021 has also helped identify over 6,000 innovations and best practices in sanitation and waste management from across the urban India,” the ministry said in a statement
Maharashtra bagged a total of 92 awards, the highest by any state, followed by Chhattisgarh with 67 awards. Additionally, under the Prerak Daaur Samman, a new performance category introduced under Swachh Survekshan 2021, five cities – Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai, NDMC and Tirupati were categorized as ‘Divya’ (Platinum).
Delhi’s north, east and south municipal corporations continued to perform abysmally.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC) ranked 45 among 48 civic bodies having a population above one million. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) ranked 40, while South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) secured the highest rank of 31.
Last year, the EDMC had ranked 46 among 47 local bodies in this category in Swachh Survekshan. The south and north had ranked 31 and 43, respectively.
Among the cleanest districts, Surat (Gujarat) bagged the first place followed by Indore (MP) and the NDMC area (New Delhi).
Karnataka and Mizoram were adjudged the “fastest mover states” in the big (more than 100 ULBs) and small (less than 100 ULBs) state category, respectively.
Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh) with a jump of 274 ranks from 361st position in the 2020 rankings to the 87th position this year has also secured a place among the top 100 cities.
In the population category of ‘less than 1 lakh’ for cities, the top three spots went to Maharashtra’s Vita, Lonavala, and Sasvad cities. Varanasi topped as the “Best Ganga Town”, while Ahmedabad Cantonment won the title of “India’s Cleanest Cantonment”.
