NEW DELHI: President of India, Ram Nath Kovind felicitated the awardees of the cleanest cities in India at an event named ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ organised by Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Indore was awarded the title of India’s Cleanest City for the fifth consecutive year under Swachh Survekshan 2021 (SS21). Surat and Vijayawada grabbed the second and third spot, respectively in the category of ‘more than 1 lakh’ population. In the category of ‘less than 1 lakh’, Vita, Lonavala, and Sasvad, all from Maharashtra, have bagged the top three spot. Varanasi has emerged to be the ‘Best Ganga town’ whereas Ahmedabad Cantonment has won the title of ‘Cleanest Cantonment’ followed by Meerut Cantonment and Delhi Cantonment.
In state awards, Chhattisgarh has emerged the ‘Cleanest Sate’ for the third consecutive year in the category of ‘more than 100 urban local bodies’. Jharkhand, on the other hand, has second time won the title of ‘Cleanest State’ in the category of ‘less than 100 urban local bodies’.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, said that the achievements under SBM-U have been due to unprecedented collective efforts. He added that the mission has taken the shape of people’s movement – a true ‘Jan Andolan’ which is evident form the massive growth of the SS.