Indore in Madhya Pradesh bagged India’s cleanest city award for the fifth consecutive term as the results of the Swachh Survekshan 2021 were declared by President Ram Nath Kovind. In the 10 top-ranked cleanest cities having a population of more than one million, Indore is followed by Surat, Vijaywada, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Ambikapur, Tirupati, Pune, Noida and Ujjain.
Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) that was launched in 2014, the central government carries the cleanliness survey to promote sanitation in urban centres. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the result was decided on the basis of 28 days long nationwide cleanliness survey covering 4,320 cities and feedback was taken from 4.2 core people.
The President applauded the local administration and municipal body of Indore. “This year Indore city has secured the first position for the fifth time in a row. It is commendable to get the first position in the whole country, it is even more commendable to maintain that position continuously,” the President said during thre award ceremony in his address.
इस वर्ष इंदौर शहर ने लगातार पाँचवी बार प्रथम स्थान प्राप्त किया है। पूरे देश में प्रथम स्थान प्राप्त करना तो सराहनीय है ही, उस स्थान को निरंतर बनाए रखना उससे भी अधिक प्रशंसनीय है। pic.twitter.com/lOcWT1x5WZ
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 20, 2021
While Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed gratitude on behalf of people as Indore was adjudged the cleanest city, the employees of Indore Municipal Corporation celebrated since their dedication has yielded results.
#WATCH | Employees of Indore Municipal Corporation celebrate after President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the cleanest city award to Indore, at Swachh Survekshan Awards 2021 today
— ANI (@ANI) November 20, 2021
Indore has received the award for the 5th consecutive year. pic.twitter.com/zF2g5iIJF4
Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been declared the “cleanest Ganga town” followed by Munger and Patna of Bihar ranked second and third respectively in this category.
In the category of smaller cities with a population between 1-10 lakh, New Delhi has ranked the first position whereas Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh) and Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) came second and third.
Among the cities having less than one lakh population, Vita city in Sangli district of Maharashtra has secured the cleanest city award followed by Lonavala and Sasvad. Under the cantonment board category, Ahmedabad got the first rank followed by Meerut and Delhi.
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 ULBs 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.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a gamechanger
On 2nd October 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission was launched as a national movement. The campaign aims to achieve the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2nd October 2019. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is the most significant cleanliness campaign is one of the important projects launched by the Narendra Modi government.
The first survey was conducted in 2016, ranking 73 cities (urban local bodies). But in the same year, the government conducted the second survey in 434 cities to expand its base. In the Swachh Survekshan survey held in 2018, a total of 4,203 cities were included. In 2019 a total of 4,237 cities were covered for the survey. This will further boost the vision of a Garbage-Free India of Modi.
