In the central government’s cleanliness survey – the Swachh Survekshan – Haridwar, one of the most ancient holy cities, has been adjudged the cleanest Ganga town in the category of more than 1 lakh population. Varanasi and Rishikesh bagged the second and the third place. Devlali in Maharashtra has been awarded the cleanest cantonment board.
Bijnor was ranked the first among Ganga towns with fewer than one lakh population followed by Kannauj and Garhmukteshwar respectively. The survey, the government said, was “undertaken to measure the cleanliness in and around Ghats”. It was executed using the direct observation method, and focused on eight major parameters.
The seventh edition of the Swachh Survekshan was conducted to study the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and rank the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), based on various cleanliness and sanitation parameters. The Survekshan has evolved from being an assessment of 73 cities in 2016 to covering 4,354 cities this year. “Swachh Survekshan 2022 has managed to accomplish the assessment of 4,354 cities (Including 62 Cantonment Boards and 91 Ganga Towns),” the ministry of housing and urban affairs said.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday gave the awards to the winners. The event was also attended by union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
What is Swachh Survekshan?
The ministry of housing and urban affairs has been conducting the Swachh Survekshan – what has been called as the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey – since 2016. Swachh Survekshan has been crucial in encouraging a culture of healthy rivalry among towns and cities in order to enhance service delivery to inhabitants and build cleaner communities. Its goal is to stimulate widespread citizen engagement and raise awareness among all segments of society about the necessity of working together to make towns and cities better places to live.