NEW DELHI: Indore has been awarded the cleanest city in the country in the Swachh Survekshan 2019 (SS 2019) awards while Bhopal has been declared as the cleanest capital. Ujjain has bagged the award for being the cleanest city in the population category of 3 lakh to 10 lakh.
The awards were presented by the President Ram Nath Kovind at a function in New Delhi. Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MOHUA and awardees from all over the country were present at the function.
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that India has made remarkable progress towards achieving the goals of rural and urban sanitation. He said, by winning the first prize in all the four surveys so far, Indore has set an example for other urban centres. The President said that cleanliness should be integral to the behaviour of every citizen to make it effective and sustainable. Many people pay attention to personal hygiene but remain apathetic to public and community cleanliness. Change in this mentality is important for achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat.
Hardeep S. Puri in his address said Indore has now retained the top spot in the survey of being the cleanest city for a consecutive three years. Every year, cities and towns across India are awarded with the title of 'Swachh Cities' on the basis of their cleanliness and sanitation drive as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that was launched in 2014. Sixty-four lakh citizens participated in the survey which included more than 4,000 cities in 2019. Indore has reported a 70% drop in vector-borne ailments in 2019, which is being attributed to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
The Minister made a special mention of the top 20 cities in this year’s survey who have been the forerunners in Urban India’s progress towards swachhata – from large cities such as Indore, Mysuru, Ahmedabad, Navi Mumbai, Tirupati, Rajkot, Vijayawada, Ghaziabad, Surat, to smaller towns and cities such as Mul, Ambikapur, Ujjain, NDMC, Karhad, Lonavala, Vita, Dewas, Bhilai, Shahganj, and Panhala. Ambikapur in Chattisgarh got the second prize overall and has become a role model for other towns in the state. Chhattisgarh has also emerged India’s top performer among states, followed by Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
