Chhattisgarh bags 'Cleanest State' award, Varanasi emerges as 'Best Ganga Town'

New Delhi [India], November 20 : Chhattisgarh has bagged the award for the 'Cleanest State' for the third consecutive year while Varanasi got the 'Best Ganga Town' award as President Ram Nath Kovind today felicitated the awardees of the cleanest cities of India at the 'Swachh Amrit Mahotsav' hosted as part of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs on Saturday at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.
Varanasi is the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
For the fifth consecutive year, Indore was awarded the title of India's Cleanest City under Swachh Survekshan, while Surat and Vijayawada bagged the second and third spots respectively in the 'more than 1 lakh population' category, as per the release by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.
In the population category of 'less than 1 lakh', Vita, Lonavala and Sasvad, all from Maharashtra, bagged the first, second and third positions respectively. Ahmedabad Cantonment won the title of 'India's Cleanest Cantonment' followed by Meerut Cantonment and Delhi Cantonment.
In the category of 'Fastest Mover', Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh) emerged as the 'Fastest Mover City' (in the 'more than 1 lakh population' category) with a jump of 274 ranks from 361st position in the 2020 rankings to the 87th position this year, thus securing a place among the top 100 cities.
In the State awards, Chhattisgarh, for the third consecutive year emerged as the 'Cleanest State' in the category of "more than 100 Urban Local Bodies" while Jharkhand, for the second time, won the Cleanest State award in the "less than 100 ULBs category", read the release.
Karnataka and Mizoram became the 'Fastest Mover States' in the big (more than 100 ULBs) and small (less than 100 ULBs) state category respectively.
Maharashtra has successfully bagged a total of 92 awards, the highest by any State in this year's Survekshan, followed by Chhattisgarh with 67 awards.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday lauded the cleanliness works taking place in different parts of the country, calling it a great tribute to the freedom fighters.
He was addressing the audience on the occasion of the Swacch Survekshan Awards 2021 in the national capital.
"Work regarding cleanliness is being done in so many cities of our country, it is a big tribute to our freedom fighters. We are celebrating 75 years of our independence this year. Mahatama Gandhi used to say that cleanliness is next to godliness, he expressed that cleanliness should be our top priority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took this priority forward via a public movement called Swachh Bharat Abhiyan," he said.
The President expressed happiness at the fact that the opinion of more than 5 crore people was taken for the awards.
He remarked that 35 states have become open-defecation-free. Referring to Padma Shri winner Usha Chaumar for raising awareness against manual scavenging, he added that her work is a source of inspiration for all.
He lauded Indore for winning the 'Cleanest City' award for the fifth consecutive time saying, "Gaining the first position across the country is laudable, but to stay at that position consistently is even more praiseworthy."
He expressed his desire that the best practices of the best-performing cities in cleanliness be brought out to the public more.
He urged that cleaning equipment be made available to all the states.
Referring to the Chhath Puja of Bihar, he said that, "When I was the governor of Bihar, it was astonishing to see that during Chhath, people themselves cleaned the roads and cleaners were not needed. If such enthusiasm for cleanliness is kept intact, then our cities and villages can set an example in cleanliness."
Union Urban Development Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, Kaushal Kishor and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel were also present on the occasion.