New Delhi: Indore has been ranked the cleanest city in India for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Surat and Vijayawada, in the 6th edition of the Centre’s Swachh Survekshan — the annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns of the country.
President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the Swachh Survekshan 2021 awards to the respective cities at a function in the Capital Saturday.
All three cities — Indore, Surat and Vijayawada — have a population of over one lakh. While Surat too retained the second position for the second consecutive year, in 2020 Navi Mumai had bagged the third prize.
Indore, with a population of about three million is Madhya Pradesh’s largest and most populated city. But the city has shown how segregating garbage at source followed by collection, processing and disposal in a scientific manner can help in achieving sustainable sanitation goals, said the surveyors.
Also read: From dumping grounds to golf courses — how Indore became India’s cleanest city
Three Maharashtra towns cleanest
In the category of towns with less than one lakh population, three Maharashtra towns were adjudged the cleanest in the country. While Vita was ranked first, Lonavala and Saswad were ranked second and third cleanest towns.
The award for the cleanest state went to Chhattisgarh.
Other awards included one given to Varanasi, which was ranked the cleanest in the category of towns along the Ganga and Ahmedabad, which was adjudged the cleanest cantonment area in the country.
A total of 4,320 cities participated in the 2021 survey. The first edition of the survey, launched in 2016, saw just 73 cities participating.
Criteria for awards
Cities have been ranked based on three broad parameters — service level progress, citizens voice and certification — and were judged on a total of 8,600. While ranking the cities, maximum weightage — 40 per cent — was given to segregated collection of garbage, processing, disposal and sustainable sanitation. Citizen feedback carried 30 per cent weightage and certification under the star rating protocol for garbage free cities carried another 30 per cent.
Six states have shown overall improvement (ranging between 5 and 25 per cent) in their overall ground level performance from last year.
More than 1,100 additional cities have started source segregation and nearly 1,800 additional ULBs (urban local bodies) have started extending welfare benefits to their sanitation workers, according to the housing ministry.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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