Andhra Pradesh ranked fifth in the country and first among the southern States in the Swachh Survekshan 2021, with two of its cities bagging the “Cleanest City” tag. It was ranked fourth in 2020. The results were announced on Saturday by President Ramnath Kovind at the Swachh Amrit Mahotsav programme held in New Delhi. It is the only southern State to have two cities in the top 10 ranks in the national ranking of cities with more than 10 lakh population. Vijayawada bagged the third rank, while Visakhapatnam bagged the ninth rank.
In the national ranking for cities with one lakh to 10 lakh population category, Tirupati bagged the third rank, while Rajahamundry was ranked 41, Kadapa 51, Kakinada 101, Nellore 107, Ongole 123, Guntur 130 and Chittoor was ranked 137.
Also, in the top 25 cities ranking of cities with more than one lakh population Vijayawada bagged the third rank while Tirupati was ranked seven, Visakhapatnam was ranked 18.
Vijayawada has been ranked as the third cleanest city in the country in the Swachh Survekashan 2021. The city jumped from sixth place in 2020 to third place this year in the cities with more than 10 lakh population category. Vijayawada has also been declared as “Garbage Free City” with a five-star rating. It is the only city in Andhra Pradesh to receive a five-star rating. The city also found a place in the “Water Plus Cities” list consisting of only nine cities across the country and bagged the “Prerak Dauur Samman Award” in Gold category for various practices, including segregation of waste, processing and recycling wet waste and dry waste, processing construction and demolition waste, landfill management and overall sanitation of the city.
Mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Commissioner V. Prasanna Venkatesh received the awards from Mr. Kovind.
Chief Medical Officer G. Geetha Bai, Additional Commissioner U. Sarada Devi, Chief Engineer M. Prabhakara Rao also represented the VMC and received awards.
Mr. Venkatesh congratulated all the public health workers, ward sanitation secretaries, sanitary inspectors, supervisors, health officers and other staff concerned. “It is a proud moment for the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. The awards were a result of the hard work of the VMC personnel as a team,” he said. He also thanked the public for their cooperation and support in keeping the city clean.
