Sunday, 21 November 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
Indore has once again bagged the award for being India’s cleanest city as President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday announced the “Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2021” awards. Surat has been named the second cleanest, while Vijayawada ranked third in the list. This is the fifth time in a row the city in Madhya Pradesh has won the award in the sixth edition of the event. Chhattisgarh has been adjudged as the cleanest State.
Earlier this year, Indore was also declared as the country’s first “water plus” city. Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, has won the cleanest Ganga town while Bihar’s Munger and Patna have been ranked second and third in the category.
Interestingly, two of three municipal bodies in Delhi have finished in the bottom 10 among 48 cities of the country. North corporation has ranked 45th, East 40th and South 31st in the SS survey.
As per the Swachh Survekshan Survey 2021 report, the 10 top-ranked cleanest cities, having a population of more than one lakh, are Indore, Surat, Vijaywada, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Ambikapur, Tirupati, Pune, Noida and Ujjain. Lucknow has been ranked the lowest among 25 cities in the same category. The winners were awarded by President Ram Nath Kovind in a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
Taking to Twitter, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri congratulated Indore and its “people, political leadership and municipal corporation,” among others. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also congratulated the people of Indore “for doing wonders” and achieving the feat of India’s cleanest for the fifth time successively by posting messages on Twitter as well as Koo.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya also took to the micro-blogging sites to congratulate the “Indoris and the cleaning workers” of the city.
The New Delhi Municipal Council’s area was ranked the cleanest in the category of cities with 1-3 lakh population. Noida was named the cleanest among medium-sized cities, that is with 3 lakh to 10 lakh population. Among the big cities with population of 10 lakh to 40 lakh, Navi Mumbai was ranked the cleanest and also bagged the first award in the category of “Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge”.
Of States with over 100 urban local bodies, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh were ranked second and third respectively.
In the State awards, Chhattisgarh, for the third consecutive year emerged as the “Cleanest State” in the category of “more than 100 Urban Local Bodies” while Jharkhand, for the second time, won the Cleanest State award in the “less than 100 Urban Local Bodies category”. Karnataka and Mizoram became the “Fastest Mover States” in the big (more than 100 ULBs) and small (less than 100 ULBs) state category respectively.
According to the Ministry, Vita city of Maharashtra has been ranked the cleanest city with less than one lakh population, followed by Lonavala and Sasvad.
Hoshangawad and Triputi emerged as the “Fastest Mover small city” and “Best Small City in Citizens’ Feedback” categories, respectively with a jump of 274 ranks from 361st position in the 2020 rankings to the 87th position this year, thus securing a place among the top 100 cities.
Ahmedabad Cantonment won the title of “India’s Cleanest Cantonment”, followed by Meerut Cantonment and Delhi Cantonment.
In the State awards, Chhattisgarh, for the third consecutive year emerged as the “Cleanest State” in the category of “more than 100 Urban Local Bodies” while Jharkhand, for the second time, won the Cleanest State award in the “less than 100 Urban Local Bodies category”.
Karnataka and Mizoram became the “Fastest Mover States” in the big (more than 100 ULBs) and small (less than 100 ULBs) state category respectively.
In all, 4,320 urban local bodies were assessed under various parameters. The process was completely digitalised with the data being collected from different platforms, including apps and portals. The assessment was conducted between March 1-31, 2021, with a maximum of 6,000 marks. While citizens voice carried 30 per cent weightage (1,800 marks), garbage segregation, collection, processing and disposal accounted for 40 per cent or 2,400 marks.
The remaining 1,800 marks were awarded for certification, if any, under which garbage-free rating yielded 1,100 marks and the open-defecation-free parameter earned 700 marks.
