Indore and Surat have been named India’s cleanest cities as part of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry’s Swachh Survekshan 2023 Awards on Thursday (11th January). Surat won the title for the first time, while Indore held the top rank for the seventh year in a row. Navi Mumbai emerged as the country’s third cleanest city.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra won the award of cleanest state, followed by Madhya Pradesh. Moreover, Chandigarh was named ‘Safai Surakshit Shehar’ for the city having the best safety standards for sanitation workers. Varanasi was awarded the cleanest “Ganga town” in the country.
Sasvad in Maharashtra, Patan in Chhattisgarh, and Lonavala in Maharashtra took the top three spots in the category of cleanest cities with a population under one lakh people.
At an awards ceremony in Delhi, President Droupadi Murmu presented the awards to representatives of the winning cities and states at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi in the presence of the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. The theme of Swachh Survekshan 2023 is “Waste to Wealth”.
President Droupadi Murmu addressed the gathering, saying that the central government and other organisations have played a key role in making the Swachh Bharat Mission a mass movement in the country. She stated that the Swachh Bharat effort employs millions of individuals. President Murmu also thanked the ‘Safaimitra’ for their participation to the Swachh Bharat Mission, calling it remarkable. She urged the country’s youth to strive hard to make India the cleanest country in the world.
“If the young generation decides to keep all the cities and the entire country clean, then India of 2047 will certainly celebrate its centenary of independence by being included among the cleanest countries in the world,” President Murmu said.
President Droupadi Murmu's address at the presentation of Swachh Survekshan Awards – 2023 in New Delhi https://t.co/WbKfxgJfm4
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) January 11, 2024
Furthermore, President Murmu outlined that nearly one-third of our people live in cities. Cities and towns must be clean for their residents’ well-being and development. She mentioned how much urban land is buried under mountains of waste. She said that such garbage mountains are particularly hazardous to the health of the urban inhabitants. She was relieved to learn that such waste sites are being phased out as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. She expressed confidence that effective work would be done in all urban areas and that the goal of zero dump sites would be met.
Swacch Bharat Abhiyan
On 2nd October 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched by PM Modi as a national movement. The campaign aims to achieve the vision of a ‘Clean India’. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is the most significant cleanliness campaign and is one of the important projects launched by the Narendra Modi government. Swachh Survekshan has evolved as a productive approach for altering the urban landscape over the years. Survekshan in 4,477 cities this year received unprecedented citizen reaction, with nearly 12 crore entries compared to nine crore last year.
Swachh Survekshan 2023 Indicators
The indicators for Swachh Survekshan 2023 focus on factors such as segregated door-to-door garbage collection, zero waste events, Divyang-friendly toilets, enhanced plastic waste management, and cleaning back lanes, for which the marks have been raised this year. Priority has been given to Safaimitra Suraksha in converting “manholes” to “machine holes.” 2x points were added to this component. The new ‘Waste to Wonder Parks’ indicator was created with a 2% weightage. Swachh TULIP was introduced in Swachh Survekshan 2023 as a new indicator, particularly for cities with more than one lakh people. In addition, Red Spots (spitting in commercial/residential places) were introduced as a new indicator under cleaning public areas. A special focus was placed on the RRR Promotion – RRR Centre Functionality. For the year 2023, 40% weightage had been assigned for detailed technical assessment of all waste treatment facilities in cities this year.
What makes Indore and other award-winning cities the cleanest
Notably, several cities across the country, especially Indore, have become transformatively clean since the Modi government launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. According to the website of Smart City Indore, at present, Indore generates about 1,115 MT of waste every day, and it is all collected from the source, whether it is a family or a commercial establishment. The door-to-door service began in January 2016 as a pilot initiative in two of the city’s 84 wards. Indore has accomplished trash segregation at the source in 100% of its residential and commercial units.
Indore, like most Indian cities, had challenges such as a lack of waste segregation at the source, an inefficient garbage collection and transportation system, insufficient public awareness, and limited infrastructure for garbage processing and disposal, among others. However, following the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan in 2014, the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) embarked on an extensive transformation of its waste management system. To establish a more efficient and environmentally friendly garbage management system, current infrastructure, policies, and community participation activities were revamped.
The Swachh Bharat Mission has also created an environment of positive competition among the authorities and the people to make sure their city becomes cleaner than ever.
Another significant fact to note is that according to the Swachh Survekshan 2023 results, 129 cities in Uttar Pradesh have attained ODF++ classification, indicating adherence to open defecation-free standards and sustainable waste management techniques. The year 2023 recorded excellent progress, with 648 cities in the state getting the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, a significant rise from the 588 cities the previous year.
