Spotless record: How 4 states came to dominate cleanest cities rankings

Latest clean city survey tracked 4,242 urban local bodies and 62 cantonment boards.

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have dominated India’s Ten Cleanest cities survey in the last five years, after the Swachh Bharat Mission began. The Mission is a modified version of the erstwhile Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. 

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Indore, one of the biggest cities in Madhya Pradesh, took the top spot in 2020 for the fourth consecutive year. Surat in Gujarat and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra are frequent toppers in the list and came second and third this year.  

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Municipal services, such as collection, disposal and transportation of waste, communication and capacity building,