Varanasi, Prayagraj win 'Cleanest Ganga Towns' award; UP Minister says "great achievement" for state

New Delhi [India], January 11 : Two cities in Uttar Pradesh - Varanasi and Prayagraj - have got national awards as part of the Swachh Survekshan 2023 Awards instituted by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
Varanasi and Prayagraj won the top two awards among the Cleanest Ganga Towns.
Uttar Pradesh Urban Development Minister AK Sharma termed it a "great achievement".
"This is a great achievement because a total of 13 cities in the country have received this national award out of which two are from UP. Earlier, once Varanasi got national award as a Ganga town. Except for that no city of UP has ever received this national award," Sharma told ANI.
"I would congratulate the administration and especially the sanitation workers of these cities. Three cities in UP have also received zonal awards... Nine cities, along with Noida have received star ratings. Noida has won 5-star ratings while others have won three-star ratings each..."
UP Urban Development Minister said that the state has made history because this is the first time that two major cities of the state have received the President Awards.
"We have made a huge difference in UP's urban management with the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and under the guidance of the Chief Minister," he added.
Congratulating the officers and employees of the department, Sarma said, "We will do even better next year."
"Three other towns get regional awards in north India region for the first time whereas Noida and 9 other cities- notably Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Agra, Firozabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, and Varanasi received the State award," he added.
UP has tremendously improved its ranking, performance and numbers in Garbage Free Cities (GBF)-an increase of 13 times in two years. Similarly, in two years, UP has also made a huge stride in making all its cities and towns Open Defecation Free (ODF).
In addition, at the zonal level in the country, three cities in UP have been awarded as part of the north zone. They include Barwar, Anup Shahr and Gajraula.
MOHUA has also announced GFC and ODF results today. This year in UP, 65 cities have been certified as Garbage Free City (GFC). Only 5 cities were GFC in 2021. Thus, there is an increase in this in two years by 13 times. UP is targeting to achieve many more garbage-free cities certification this year.
Minister further stated that all the cities of UP are now Open Defecation Free (ODF) this year.
"In the ODF category, two ULBs have achieved water plus certification for the first time. UP has achieved this water plus certification never before," he added.
"Within the ODF category, 129 ULBs have been certified as ODF++, against 40 last years. 435 ULBS have been certified as ODF+ whereas last year, they were 411 in number. In fact, all this put together all cities of UP have now become ODF UP's Urban Space is free from this problems," he said, adding that the state is aiming to achieve higher standards within ODF.
13 awardees received felicitations under the categories of Clean Cities, Cleanest Cantonment, SafaiMitra Suraksha, Ganga Towns and Best Performing State were given away.
Notably, Indore and Surat have been adjudged India's cleanest cities as part of the Swachh Survekshan 2023 Awards given out by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
While it was Indore's seventh year in a row at the top spot, Surat won the award for the first time. Navi Mumbai was named the third-cleanest city in the country.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra bagged the cleanest state award, followed by Madhya Pradesh.
Chandigarh won the award for the city having the best safety standards for sanitation workers -- Safaimitra Surakshit Shehar.