Indore is India's cleanest city for 6th time in a row; MP cleanest state

New Delhi: Indore was awarded as the cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022 today for the sixth straight year. Surat and Navi Mumbai followed in the next two spots. President Droupadi Murmu today felicitated the awardees of the cleanest States and cities at the award ceremony of Swachh Survekshan 2022 at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi. Indore also emerged as India’s first 7-star Garbage Free city, while Surat, Bhopal, Mysuru, Navi Mumbai, Vishakhapatnam, and Tirupati earned 5-star Garbage Free certifications.

Indore and Surat retained their top positions in the big cities category this year, while Vijaywada lost its third spot to Navi Mumbai. 

In a surprise addition, Madhya Pradesh emerged as the cleanest state by replacing Chhattisgarh, the Cleanest State of the previous 3 years. Maharashtra came in the third spot. Among the states having fewer than 100 urban local bodies, Tripura has bagged the top rank, according to the survey results.

In the category of cities having a population of fewer than one lakh, Maharashtra's Panchgani was ranked number one, followed by Chhattisgarh's Patan (NP) and Maharashtra's Karhad.

Haridwar was adjudged the cleanest Ganga town in the category of more than 1 lakh population, followed by Varanasi and Rishikesh. Bijnor was ranked first among Ganga towns with fewer than one lakh population. Followed by Kannauj and Garhmukhteshwar respectively. In the survey, Maharashtra's Deolali was adjudged the country's cleanest Cantonment Board.

Hardeep S Puri, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs also felicitated the awardee cities and States. 

The award ceremony, organized to recognize the good work done for Swachhata by towns/ cities, States and Union Territories under Swachh Survekshan 2022 and certifications for Garbage Free Star rating for cities saw more than 160 awards under various categories being given away through the day. 

The Survekshan has evolved from being an assessment of 73 cities in 2016 to covering 4,354 cities this year. It also saw an unprecedented number of citizens’ feedback – over 9 crores, compared to 5 cores last year.

(With agency inputs)