Mysore in Karnataka has been ranked as the cleanest city in India while Dhanbad in Jharkhand is the dirtiest in a ranking of 73 cities surveyed for sanitation and hygiene conditions as part of the Swachh Survekshan 2016 launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
The Ministry of Urban Development on Monday (February 15) announced the ranking of 73 cities that were part of the survey of cities with over 10 lakh population.
Apart from Mysore, the list of top 10 cities includes Chandigarh, Tiruchiraplli, New Delhi, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot, Gangtok, Pimpri Chinchwad and Greater Mumbai.
The cities that figure at the bottom of the list inlcude Kalyan Dombivili, (ranked 64), Varanasi (ranked 65), Jamshedpur (ranked 66), Ghaziabad (ranked 67), Raipur (ranked 68), Meerut (ranked 69), Patna (ranked 70), Itanagar (ranked 71),
Asansol (ranked 72), and Dhanbad (ranked 73).
In the latest survey to check cleanliness level, 22 state capitals were covered. Modi had launched the Swachh Bharat campaign in 2014 and this cleanliness survey was to check which states have taken PM's campaign seriously. The Swachh Bharat campaign is aimed at raising awareness about sanitation and health.
Modi’s constituency Varanasi, which got over Rs 20,000 crore since 2014 to upgrade its rundown civic infrastructure - ranks 65 on account of its abysmal sanitation facilities.
In 2014, the Urban Development ministry had carried out a similar exercise in 476 cities and municipalities with a population of over one lakh. The survey had found Delhi ranked among the dirtiest while Mysore, Bangalore, Kochi and Navi Mumbai were the cleanest.
Of the Rs 62,009 crore earmarked for Swachh Bharat Mission till 2019, the Centre’s contribution is Rs 14, 623 crore while the state government’s share works out to be Rs 4874 crore. The remaining contribution of Rs 42, 512 crore is to be borne mainly by the private sector, a news report said.
BW Reporters
Ashish Sinha is an experienced business journalist who has covered FMCG, auto, infrastructure, tourism, telecom among several other beats. Ashish has keen interest in the regulatory scenario impacting different sectors. He writes on aviation, railways, post and telegraph, infrastructure, defence, media & entertainment, among a wide variety of other subjects.