Indore has been adjudged the cleanest city of India for the sixth year in a row, while Madhya Pradesh is the cleanest state in the country.
Surat is the second cleanest city and Navi Mumbai comes a close third in the category of cities with a population more than a lakh.
In the population category of less than one lakh, Panchgani and Karad from Maharashtra bagged the first and third positions respectively, while Patan from Chhattisgarh bagged the second position.
Tirupati received the best city award in Safai Mitra Suraksha category, while Haridwar in Uttarakhand received the award for the best Ganga town in more than one lakh population cities. Shivamogga in Karnataka received the fast mover city award.
The State awards saw Madhya Pradesh emerge as the Cleanest State in the category of “more than 100 Urban Local Bodies”, relegating Chhattisgarh, the cleanest State of the previous three years, to second place. Maharashtra emerged as third cleanest State.
Similarly, Tripura got the cleanest State award in the “less than 100 urban local bodies category”, dislodging Jharkhand, which had won in the past two consecutive years. Jharkhand and Uttarakhand received the second and third spots respectively.
The awards were given away by President Draupadi Murmu as part of the Azadi@75 Swachh Survekshan 2022, hosted as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission. She also formally released the Swachh Survekshan 2022 dashboard.
Ms. Murmu said: “I congratulate all the awardee cities for their commitment to the cause of Swachhata (cleanliness)”.
She exhorted the citizens to join in the three-week source segregation campaign scheduled to begin on October 2 and expressed hope in the country’s urban areas becoming garbage free by 2026.
Hardeep S. Puri, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, said: “Achievements under SBM-U have been the result of the collective efforts of the citizens of urban India. Today, the Mission has taken the shape of a people’s movement, a true Jan Andolan”.
The President released an audio-visual song that captured the journey of SBM and the road ahead. The theme of the song was Garv (pride) and featured various celebrity ambassadors of the Mission, such as P V Sindhu and Mithali Raj.
