Swachhta Pakhwada Updates : Indore Emerges As The Cleanest City Of India

-Anand Saurabh

Indore has emerged as the country's cleanest city in the Swachh Survekshan-2017. The survey was conducted in 434 cities and towns. The Minister of Urban Development Mr M Venakaiah Naidu announced the result of the survey on 4th May, 2017. Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Mysuru, Tiruchirapally, New Delhi Municipal Council, Navi Mumbai, Vadodara and Chandigarh are among the Top 10 clean cities in that order. Gonda (Uttar Pradesh) came at the bottom in the survey. It was followed by Bhusawal (Maharashtra), Bagaha (Bihar)- 433, Hardoi (UP)-432, Katihar (Bihar)-431, Bahraich (UP)-429, Muktsar (Punjab)-427, Muktsar (Punjab)-426 and Khurja (UP)-425.
Mr Naidu described
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as the Movers and Shakers for having significantly improved their rankings from that of 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. He stated that a total of 14 States were represented in the Top 50 clean cities with Gujarat accounting for 12, followed by
Madhya Pradesh-11, Andhra Pradesh-8 and one each from Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi has 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.
Swachh Survekshan-2017 aimed at capturing the outcomes on ground of the ongoing efforts to make urban areas Open Defecation Free and to improve door-to-door collection, processing and disposal of Municipal Solid Waste. Of the total score of 2,000, 900 marks were assigned for performance in respect of ODF and solid waste management, 600 marks for Citizen Feedback and 500 marks for Independent Observation.
Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra to be set up at Raj Ghat to monitor the progress of Swachh Bharat Mission
"Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra" will be set up by the Government at Rajghat in New Delhi. Addressing media persons on the culmination of "Swachhata Pakhwada" of Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma announced that the Kendra will be set up by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation at the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, Rajghat to monitor the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission. Mr Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Rural Development, Pachayati Raj and Drinking Water & Sanitation was also present during the joint press conference.
Addressing on the occasion, Mr Tomar said that that Swachh Bharat Mission is not only the top priority of the Government but it has become a national mission for the people of India and positive results are pouring in from every nook and corner of the country. He said that since the launch of the mission on 2ndOctober, 2014, till date more than 4 crore individual household latrines have been built and one lakh, 94,000 villages and 135 districts have become Open Defecation Free, ODF. He added that apart from Sikkim, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh which are ODF Sates, 6 to 7 more States will soon declare them ODF as the work is going on a rapid scale.