Indore has been ranked India's cleanest city in Swachh Survekshan 2020, the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness survey of the country. The city has retained its top spot for the fourth time in a row. Gujarat's Surat is in the second spot and Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai is in the third. The survey was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2016.
Karnataka's Mysuru had won the award for the cleanest city of India in the first edition of the Swachh Survekshan in 2016, while Indore has retained the top position for three consecutive years (2017, 2018, 2019).
The announcement was made by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday at the Swachh Mahotsav being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoUHA). "Heartiest congratulations! Indore is India's cleanest city 4th year in a row. The city & its people have shown exemplary dedication towards cleanliness. Congratulations to MP CM @ChouhanShivraj people, political leadership & Municipal Corporation for this superlative performance," Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri said in a tweet.
The Union Minister also congratulated Jalandhar Cantonment for being India's cleanest cantonment in Swachh Bharat Survekshan 2020. The ancient holy town of Varanasi is rightfully the cleanest town on the banks of the river Ganga, the Minister said in another tweet. "Heartiest congratulations to PM Shri @narendramodi Ji, who represents the city in Lok Sabha, for his visionary leadership which has inspired the people of the town for this achievement," the Minister tweeted.
The Swachh Survekshan had been introduced by the government with the objective of generating large-scale citizen participation in the Swachh Bharat Mission, along with inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among cities towards becoming the country's cleanest cities. The Swachh Survekshan 2020 was completed in 28 days and it saw the registration of 1.7 crore citizens on Swachhata App, over 11 crore impressions on social media, more than 5.5 lakh sanitary workers linked to social welfare schemes and over 84,000 informal waste-pickers to contribute to the mission.
