India’s Swachh Survekshan – an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene, and sanitation – will soon release the list of cleanest cities. Like every year, several cities will be contesting for the crown of the cleanest city in India, and while the preparations are underway, here’s how last year’s top 5 cities are gearing up to win/hold their title in 2021.
1. Indore, Madhya Pradesh
Back in 2020, Indore was ranked India’s cleanest city for the fourth consecutive year by Swachh Survekshan. Now, the city intends to win the title for the fifth consecutive year by installing colorful lights on the roads, decorating walls with unique paintings, most of them are based on the swachh and swasth messages.
The crown holding city has gone a step ahead and set up stalls at Palasia intersection where car dustbins, eco-friendly straws, cloth bags, containers for making compost are given on rent, gardens across Indore have been beautified and an ‘eco mart’ where recycled plastic items are kept.
2. Surat, Gujarat
Gujarat’s cleanest city, Surat, has completely transformed itself from a garbage-strewn mess to becoming the 2nd cleanest city in India. It has adopted the message of recycling, and even introduced bottle recycling machines wherein one can dispose of bottles and enjoy rewards.
3. Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
Navi Mumbai is ranked 3rd cleanest city in India according to the Swachh Survekshan 2020. It bagged the 7th position in 2019’s rankings, Navi Mumbai has improved its position, and this year, it plans to win by tweaking its plan. The municipal corporation of Navi Mumbai has reportedly introduced Swachh Survekshan Mascots in commercial and public areas in a bid to spread the word among citizens about the survey thereby making sure the city remains clean and adopts swachh habits.
4. Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur is one of the oldest cities and despite its ancient foothold the city was ranked as the cleanest city in India as per Swachh Survekshan 2020. While there is no report as to how the city is planning to compete this year, it is also worth noting that Ambikapur has no dumping yards and is able to generate good income by recycling the waste. The city has put in sincere efforts in segregating at least 90% of the waste generated on a daily basis.
5. Mysore, Karnataka
Mysore ranks 5th in the list of India’s cleanest cities in 2020 and it has held on top for 2 consecutive years, and it continues to stay clean and generate minimum waste. The zero-waste plant workers ensure to segregate all the household waste into different categories which is why the city has consistently stayed a recurring name in the list of cleanest cities in India.
According to the survey conducted by Swachh Survekshan winners, Mysuru won the title of the cleanest city in 2016 and whereas in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 Indore was declared India’s Cleanest City.
This year, five new performance categories have been introduced – Platinum (Divya), Gold (Anupam), Silver (Ujjwal), Bronze (Udit), and Copper (Aarohi) and these are being called ‘Prerak Dauur Samman’.