Indore emerges India’s cleanest city, Mysuru falls to fifth place

Indore has emerged as the India's cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan-2017 conducted among 434 cities and towns, the results of which were announced by the minister of urban development M Venakaiah Naidu.

Last year's topper Mysuru slipped to fifth rank this year but there was no decline in sanitation standards there, Naidu explained

Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Mysuru, Tiruchirapally, New Delhi Municipal Council, Navi Mumbai, Vadodara and Chandigarh are among the Top 10 clean cities in that order.

At the bottom of the ranking of the 434 cities and towns surveyed are the 10 towns that include  Gonda (UP) ranked the lowest, followed by Bhusawal (Maharashtra) and Bagaha (Bihar), Hardoi (UP), Katihar (Bihar), Bahraich (UP), Muktsar (Punjab), Muktsar (Punjab) and Khurja (UP).

Announcing the survey results, Naidu described Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as the Movers and Shakers for having significantly improved their rankings from the survey conducted in 2014 before the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014.

Swachh Survekshan conducted in 2016 covered 73 cities with over million population each besides capital cities.

In the Swachh Surekshan- 2017  all the cities surveyed in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have substantially improved their rankings over that of 2016 and 2014. So too, in Gujarat except in the case of Rajkot improved their ranking while in  Chattisgarh all cities surveyed except Bilaspur improved their rankings.

In Telangana, only two cities have dropped in rankings this year while it in Andhra Pradesh four cities declined in ranking.

Naidu said that a total of 14 states were represented in the top 50 clean cities with Gujarat accounting for 12, followed Madhya Pradesh 11, Andhra Pradesh 8 and one each from Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh.

Twenty-five towns from Uttar Pradesh are ranked among the bottom 50 cities, followed by Rajasthan and Punjab with five each, two in Maharashtra and one each from Haryana, Karnataka and Lashadweep.

Varanasi has, however, improved its rank from 418 in 2014 to 32 this year to become the Fastest Big City Mover in the North Zone.

The minister said that UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab and Kerala need to substantially step up efforts to improve sanitation standards in urban areas.

Faridabad in Haryana has improved its rank from 379 in 2014 to 88 this year and has been awarded for being the 'Fastest Mover' among cities with a population of above one million each.

Naidu stressed that this year's survey results are ''Citizens' Verdict'' on cleanliness in urban areas of the country with 37 lakh citizens' enthusiastically providing feedback on cleanliness in 434 cities and towns, accounting for about 60 per cent of the total urban population in the country. He stated that such survey will be commissioned in all the 4,041 statutory towns and cities.

Naidu further referred to India improving its position by 12 places in the global Travel and Tourism Competitive Index and feedback from media persons as further confirmation of improving sanitation in urban areas.

Referring to Mysuru in Karnataka, which topped the ranks in 2016 and 2014 and ranked five in this year's survey, Naidu asserted that in no way it meant that cleanliness has declined in the city or the city government scaled down its efforts.

He explained that Mysuru scored over 87 per cent out of the total score of 2,000 in both 2017 and 2016 indicating that sanitation level has not come down this year while other cities have scored over Mysuru. ''This spirit of competition is sought to be promoted through such surveys to help cities know where they stand in absolute terms and in relation to other cities as well'' said the minister.