Swachh Survekshan 2021 results: Indore India’s cleanest city for 5th time in row, Varanasi cleanest Ganga town
Indore in Madhya Pradesh was crowned with the ‘Swachhata Ka Taaj’ by President Ram Nath Kovind at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ function organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi. The city has clinched India’s cleanest city title for the fifth time in a row. Gujarat’s Surat and Andhra Pradesh’s Vijaywada grabbed the second and third positions respectively.
Swachh Survekshan is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across the country. It was launched in 2016 as part of the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which aims to make India clean and free of open defecation. A total of 4,320 cities were covered in Swachh Survekshan 2021, the sixth edition of the survey, making it the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey.
Chhattisgarh is India’s cleanest state
In the latest edition, Chhattisgarh has been ranked as the cleanest state in the country. Surat and Vijayawada also received ‘Five Star’ certification under Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities, a SMART framework introduced in 2018 by MoHUA to holistically evaluate cities across waste management parameters.
Varanasi is cleanest Ganga town
Varanasi received the first position in the cleanest Ganga town category while Ahmedabad cantonment has been adjudged as the cleanest cantonment in the country. Vita in Maharashtra got the award for the cleanest city with under one lakh population, and the state’s Lonawala grabbed the second spot in this category.
“The success of this year’s survey can be gauged through the unprecedented number of citizen feedback received this year — over 5 crore, a marked increase from last year’s 1.87 crore. The 2021 edition was conducted in record time of 28 days despite several on-ground challenges owing to the COVID pandemic,” read an official statement.
