Indore bags Swachh Bharat trophy, UP has half of the 50 dirtiest cities

Indians have voted Indore in Madhya Pradesh as the cleanest city, while Gonda in Uttar Pradesh has been found to be the dirtiest, the government said on Thursday.

Bhopal occupies the second-best spot among 434 cities, followed by Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Surat in Gujarat, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said.

About 1,800,000 people’s response to a set of six questions was considered for the survey, after eliminating duplicate feedback. Overall, the survey had elicited the views of 3,700,000 people — about 60 per cent of the total urban population.

Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, has soared up the scale, occupying the 32nd spot in ‘Swachh Survekshan-2017’, a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. It ranked 65th last year and 418 in 2014. Mysuru in Karnataka, which stood first for the last two years, slipped to the fifth position.

Gujarat, with 12 cities in the top 50, has the best score among states. Uttar Pradesh, accounting for half of the 50 dirtiest cities, is at the bottom of the list. Gujarat is followed by Madhya Pradesh, with 11 cities in the top 50, and Andhra Pradesh, with eight.

West Bengal did not take part in the survey. Tiruchirapally in Tamil Nadu is the sixth cleanest city, followed by the New Delhi Municipal Council area in the national capital. 

Bhusawal in Maharashtra is the dirtiest city after Gonda. Bagaha and Katihar (Bihar), Hardoi (Uttarakhand) Bahraich, Shahjahanpur and Khurja (UP) and Muktsar and Abohar (Punjab) are in the bottom 10.

Naidu described Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as “movers and shakers” for having significantly improved their rankings since 2014. The first survey in 2014 was conducted before the announcement of the cleanliness drive in October. The 2016 survey covered 73 cities. He said UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab and Kerala needed to improve sanitation.

A door-to-door garbage collection van in Indore. It was voted the cleanest city in the country. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia commons

In Bihar, 19 of the 27 cities surveyed have ranks beyond 300. The cleanest city is Biharsharif at 147. In Rajasthan, 18 of the 29 cities are ranked beyond 300, with 13 in the bottom 100. Bundi, ranked 171, is the best city. In Punjab, 7 of the 16 cities surveyed figure among the bottom 100, with SAS Nagar placed highest at 121. Faridabad in Haryana, which improved its rank from 379 in 2014 to 88 this year, has been recognised as a “fastest mover” among cities with a population of above one million.

Quality Council of India had conducted the survey during January-February this year.

"I think this is the largest ever such survey to be conducted by the government on any issue of public importance," Naidu said, adding a survey will be commissioned in all the 4,041 statutory towns and cities in the country.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the ministry of commerce and industry is the nodal ministry for the council.

The survey aims at capturing the outcomes of ongoing efforts to stop open defecation and to improve the door-to-door collection, processing and disposal of municipal solid waste.

Of a total score of 2,000, 900 marks were assigned for a city's performance in ending open defecation and on solid waste management, 600 for citizen feedback and 500 for independent observations.

Every city in Gujarat, barring Rajkot, and Chhattisgarh, except Bilaspur, have improved since 2014. Rankings of two cities in Telangana and four in Andhra Pradesh have declined.