Indore has emerged as the India’s Cleanest City in the Swachh Survekshan-2017 conducted in 434 cities and towns, the results of which were announced here today by the Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venakaiah Naidu.
Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Mysuru, Tiruchirapally, New Delhi Municipal Council, Navi Mumbai, Vadodara and Chandigarh are among the Top 10 clean cities in that order.
10 towns that came at the bottom of the 434 surveyed are; Gonda (UP) ranked 434 followed by Bhusawal (Maharashtra), Bagaha (Bihar)- 433, Hardoi (UP)-432, Katihar (Bihar)-431, Bahraich (UP)-429, Muktsar (Punjab)-427, Muktsar (Punjab)-426 and Khurja (UP)-425.
Announcing the Survey Results, Shri Naidu described Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as the Movers and Shakers for having significantly improved their rankings from that of the Survey conducted in 2014 before the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October, 2014. Swachh Survekshan conducted in 2016 covered 73 cities with over million population each besides capital cities.
The Minister further informed that in Swachh Surekshan-2017, all the cities surveyed in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have substantially improved their rankings over that of 2016 and 2014. Gujarat did so in respect of all cities excepting Rajkot and similar being the case in respect of Chattisgarh except Bilaspur. In Telangana, only two cities have dropped in rankings this year while it happened in respect of four cities in Andhra Pradesh.
Shri Naidu stated that a total of 14 States were represented in the Top 50 clean cities with Gujarat accounting for 12, followed Madhya Pradesh-11, Andhra Pradesh-8 and one each from Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh.
25 towns from Uttar Pradesh are ranked among the bottom 50 cities with followed by Rajasthan and Punjab with five each, two in Maharashtra and one each from Haryana, Karnataka and Lashadweep.
Varanasi has however, improved its rank from 418 in 2014 to 32 this year to become the Fastest Big City Mover in the North Zone.
The Minister said that UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab and Kerala need to substantially step up efforts to improve sanitation standards in urban areas.
Faridabad in Haryana has improved its rank from 379 in 2014 to 88 this year and has been awarded for being the ‘Fastest Mover’ among cities with a population of above one million each.
Shri Venkaiah Naidu stressed that this year’s survey results are “Citizens’ Verdict” on cleanliness in urban areas of the country with 37 lakh citizens’ enthusiastically providing feedback on cleanliness in 434 cities and towns accounting for about 60% of the total urban population in the country. He stated that such survey will be commissioned in all the 4,041 statutory towns and cities.
Shri Naidu further referred to India improving its position by 12 places in the global Travel and Tourism Competitive Index and feedback from media persons as further confirmation of improving sanitation in urban areas.
Referring to Mysuru in Karnataka which topped the ranks in 2016 and 2014 and ranked five in this year’s survey, Shri Naidu asserted that in no way it meant that cleanliness has declined in the city or the city government scaled down its efforts. He explained that Mysuru scored over 87% out of the total score of 2,000 in both 2017 and 2016 indicating that sanitation level has not come down this year while other cities have scored over Mysuru. “This spirit of competition is sought to be promoted through such surveys to help cities know where they stand in absolute terms and in relation to other cities as well” said the Minister.
38 cities were awarded including the Top five clean cities at the national level, cleanest cities and fastest movers in different zones in 5-10 lakh and 2-5 lakh population categories.
Swachh Survekshan-2017 aimed at capturing the outcomes on ground of the ongoing efforts to make urban areas Open Defecation Free and to improve door-to-door collection, processing and disposal of Municipal Solid Waste. Of the total score of 2,000, 900 marks were assigned for performance in respect of ODF and solid waste management, 600 marks for Citizen Feedbak and 500 marks for Independent Observation.
Quality Council of India that conducted the survey during January-February this year deployed 421 assessors for on the site inspection of cleanliness in 434 cities and towns and another 55 for real time monitoring of progress of survey and field inspections. Field inspectors used geo-tagged devices for collecting evidence in real time of their inspection at 17,500 locations.
