NEW DELHI, Jul 17 : Ahmedabad was named the cleanest big city on Thursday, followed by Bhopal and Lucknow in the government’s annual cleanliness survey, even as Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai and Vijayawada among 23 cities were elevated to a newly formed ‘Super Swachh League Cities’ category for demonstrating exceptional performance in sanitation.
The results of the Swachh Survekshan were announced on Thursday. According to the government, 14 crore people participated in the survey through face-to-face interactions, the Swachhata App, MyGov and social media platforms in over 4,500 cities.
Seventy-eight awards were presented this year across four categories — Super Swachh League Cities; Top three clean cities in five population categories; Special Category: Ganga Towns, Cantonment Boards, Safai Mitra Suraksha, Mahakumbh; and State-Level Awards — promising clean city of a state or Union Territory.
Under the new category ‘Super Swachh League’, Noida emerged as the topper, followed by Chandigarh, Mysore, Ujjain, Gandhinagar and Guntur in the three to ten lakh population category.
New Delhi (NDMC), Tirupati, Ambikapur and Lonavala have been part of the 50,000 to three lakh population category. These cities in their five-population categories will compete with each other as they have been made part of the ‘Super Swachh League Cities’ and the results will be announced in the next cleanliness survey.
A special recognition was also accorded to the Uttar Pradesh government, Prayagraj Mela Adhikari and Prayagraj Municipal Corporation for its exceptional urban waste management during the Maha Kumbh, the world’s largest congregation, which witnessed an estimated footfall of 66 crore people during January and February this year, the ministry said.
President Droupadi Murmu gave away the awards to the winners at an event which was attended by Union Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Minister Manohar Lal and others.
Talking about the ‘Super Swachh League’ city award category, an official in the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said Indore, Surat and Navi Mumbai have topped the list of cleanest cities in the last few years and set new parameters in the field of cleanliness. In total, 23 cities have entered the league.
To promote new cities towards cleanliness, the ‘Swachh Shahar’ category has also been introduced, the official said, adding Ahmedabad has secured the first position, followed by Bhopal, Lucknow, Raipur, Jabalpur, Greater Hyderabad, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, GVMC Visakhapatnam, Agra and Ghaziabad.
Among the top 40 cities with a population of over 10 lakh, Chennai ranked 38th, Ludhiana 39th and Madurai 40th.
Manohar Lal presented the award for Best Ganga Town to Prayagraj, followed by Varanasi and Kanpur.
Secunderabad Cantonment was honoured as the Best Cantonment Board for its exemplary sanitation efforts, followed by Deolali Cantonment, MHOW Cantt, Ahmedabad Cantt and Kirkee Cantt.
In the list of 58 Cantonment areas, Delhi Cantt ranked 30th, Shillong 56th, Agra 57th and Kanpur 58th.
In the three to ten lakh population category under ‘Swachh Shahar’, Mira-Bhayandar has secured the first position while Bilaspur and Jamshedpur followed it in the next two spots.
Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas has bagged the first position in the 50,000 to three lakh population category and Karhad in Maharashtra and Karnal in Haryana ranked second and third respectively.
GVMC Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur and Gorakhpur were declared Best Safai Mitra Surakshit Shehar for their outstanding commitment to the safety and dignity of sanitation workers.
Speaking at the event, President Murmu complimented the HUA ministry for promoting the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (3R) approach and commended the waste-to-wealth memento presented to her.
She commended the cities below one lakh population which have established excellent standards of ‘swachhata’ (cleanliness). She praised how the school interventions, initiatives for source segregation startups and zero waste colonies are making the resolve for Swachh Bharat stronger.
President Murmu said, “The Viksit Bharat of 2047 will be exemplary for the world”.
Launching the Swachh City Partnership initiative, Union minister Manohar Lal emphasised the significance of peer learning.
He said that all 78 top-performing cities across all population categories will adopt and mentor one poor-performing city each from the respective states.
‘SS 2024-25 awards’ has put the spotlight on the theme of “reduce, reuse, recycle”. Over 3,000 assessors conducted thorough inspections in every ward across the country over 45 days, the ministry said.
This year, the awards not only celebrate the top Swachh Shehar but also recognise and encourage small cities showing strong promise and progress, it added. (PTI(
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