Indore and Surat secured title as the ‘cleanest cities’ in India according to the annual cleanliness survey conducted by the Central government on Thursday, with Navi Mumbai retaining its third position. Notably, Indore’s consistent recognition as the cleanest city for seven successive times stood out.
In the category of ‘best performing states’ at the ‘Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023,’ Maharashtra claimed the top spot, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The awards ceremony, hosted in the city and attended by Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri, witnessed President Droupadi Murmu honoring the winners.
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
Several other cities received acknowledgment for their cleanliness endeavors. Saswad in Maharashtra was honored with the cleanest city award in the category of urban centers with a population of less than 1 lakh. Patan in Chhattisgarh and Lonavla in Maharashtra secured the second and third positions in the same category. Varanasi and Prayagraj were notably acknowledged as the cleanest Ganga towns.
Its not just the two National awardee cities of Varanasi & Prayagraj, the Swachh Survekshan-2023 award says a lot more about UP…
• UP has made history as 2 cities are getting president award in cleanliness for the first time;
•Not only this, 2 out of 10 National awardee… pic.twitter.com/jeEy8rc8BE— A K Sharma (@aksharmaBharat) January 11, 2024
Since its inception in 2016, the Swachh Survekshan, conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has grown into the largest global survey on urban sanitation and cleanliness. This initiative has played a pivotal role in fostering healthy competition among towns and cities, encouraging them to improve service delivery to citizens and work towards cleaner urban environments. Starting with a coverage limited to 73 major cities in 2016, the Survekshan has significantly expanded its scope, now encompassing 4,477 cities.
Moreover Shimla’s position experienced a significant decline in the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023, plummeting from 56th to 188th. The city performed poorly in the evaluation conducted across approximately 446 cities in the country. In the preceding years, Shimla’s rankings were 198th in 2019, 65th in 2020, 76th in 2021, and 56th in 2022.
Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023: Shimla’s rank fell from 56th to 188th#HimachalPradesh #shimla pic.twitter.com/IpPLe9VefR
— Sidharth Shukla (@sidhshuk) January 12, 2024