Bhubaneswar: While Odisha improved its position as the fourth best state in terms of cleanliness in Swachh Survekshan 2023 ranking, only three cities – Bhubaneswar, Puri and Balasore – could make it to top 100 list in the population of 1 lakh and above category.
Odisha was placed 9th in 2022 and occupied 10th place in the previous two years. The state improved its rank by five positions leaving Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh behind.
Bhubaneswar, which was declared the cleanest city in Odisha, made significant strides, climbing 46 spots to secure 34th position nationally. It was ranked 80th in the previous edition of the survey.
The Swachh Survekshan awards were given away by President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi on Thursday. Bhubaneswar Mayor Sulochana Das along with Municipal Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange received the clean city award for the Smart city from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The state capital also received 3-star rating for being a garbage-free city and was the only city in Odisha to receive the prestigious Water Plus Award.
Apart from Bhubaneswar, Puri and Balasore were ranked 62 and 99, respectively. However, Rourkela and Berhampur slipped in the cleanliness ranking this year. The ranking of the Steel City, which had earned state’s cleanest city tag in 2022, tumbled down to 119 from 45 last year and it dropped out of the top 100 positions. Similarly, Berhampur fell from 90 to 111 rank this year among the large cities.
While no city from the state found a place in the top 20 big cities, Chikiti NAC was ranked 12 among cities having a population below 1 lakh. Bhanjanagar NAC was also ranked 79 among small cities in the national ranking.
The survey evaluated cities based on their cleanliness and sanitation practices and received over 12 crore citizen responses, making it the largest cleanliness survey in the world.
ALL-INDIA RANKING
Surat in Gujarat and Indore in Madhya Pradesh were jointly declared cleanest cities of the country at the annual clean city awards 2023 of the Union Urban Affairs Ministry. Navi Mumbai bagged the third spot. The list of top 10 cleanest cities with a population of more than one lakh also includes Greater Visakhapatnam, Bhopal, Vijayawada, New Delhi, Tirupati, Greater Hyderabad and Pune.
According to the recently released annual cleanliness survey, Howrah in West Bengal is the dirtiest city in India. All of the 10 dirtiest cities with a population of over 1 lakh are from West Bengal. Other dirtiest cities include Kalyani, Madhyagram, Krishnanagar, Asansol, Rishra, Bidhannagar, Kanchrapara, Kolkata, and Bhatpara.
As far as the states are concerned, Maharashtra came first, followed by Madhya Pradesh and then Chhattisgarh. Odisha is ranked fourth, followed by Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Karnataka, Goa, Haryana and Bihar.
