JAN-11. Indore and Surat have been named India’s cleanest cities in the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023.
While Indore has topped the ranking for the seventh time in a row, this is the first time Surat has won the award. Navi Mumbai was named the third-cleanest city in the country.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra won the cleanest state award, followed by Madhya Pradesh. Chandigarh received the award for being the city with the best safety standards for sanitation workers. Varanasi is rated as the cleanest ‘Ganga City’.
President Drupadi Murmu presented the awards to city and state representatives at a ceremony in Delhi.
This annual award was launched in 2016 under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban. The 2023 awards covered 4,416 urban municipalities, 61 states, and 88 Ganga towns. The ranking received 1.58 Crores pieces of online feedback from the public and 19.82 lakhs of personal opinions, the ministry said.