India’s Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has released the results of its 'Swachh Survekshan 2018' survey – a nationwide exercise to access levels of cleanliness in the country’s urban cities.
Unlike last year, this year’s results have come as no surprise with Indore and Bhopal - the cities that fuel the economy of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, emerging as the top two cleanest cities of the country for the second consecutive year.
Reacting to the results, the chief minister of the state, Shivraj Chauhan attributed the success to the citizens of the two cities.
Third position was bagged by Chandigarh - the capital of the north Indian states of Punjab and Haryana.
Touted as the country’s first planned city and fondly called the ‘city beautiful’, Chandigarh has managed to elevate itself from its previous rank of 11th in 2017.
The architectural marvel is also listed in this year’s New York Times’ coveted list of “52 places to go”.
The government claims this year’s survey is more comprehensive as it was conducted in 4,203 cities as opposed to only 434 in 2017.
The total score of each city was broadly calculated on three parameters of cleanliness, sanitation and feedback obtained from the citizens based on their everyday experience.
Among other categories, Jharkhand in east India was declared as the best-performing state closely followed by Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
Some of the other cities that made the cut are Ghaziabad as ‘fastest mover’ city; Nagpur as the best in innovation practices while Navi Mumbai earned a special mention for being the best in solid waste management.
Survey: Jharkhand is India's best performing state in terms of cleanliness Source: Twitter
