Key highlights of Swachh Survekshan 2020:

·         1.87 crore citizen feedback received

·         1.7 crore citizens registered on Swachhata App

·         Over 11 crore impressions on social media

·         Over 5.5 lakh sanitary workers linked to social welfare schemes and over 84,000 informal waste pickers integrated into the mainstream

·         Over 4 lakh contractual employees employed by Urban Local Bodies

·         Over 21,000 Garbage Vulnerable Points identified and transformed

Hardeep S Puri, MoS(I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has stated that “Swachh Survekshan will continue to help us in sustaining the gains made under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban(SBM-U), while providing a comprehensive roadmap to institutionalize the concept of total Swachhata among all our cities.  As the performance of cities rightly show, we are well on our way to creating not just a ‘Swachh’ (clean) but a ‘Swasth’ (healthy), ‘Sashakt’ (empowered), ‘Sampann’ (prosperous) and Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) New India!”.He gave away the awards for Swachh Survekshan 2020, the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness urban survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India at a virtual event titled Swachh Mahotsav organized by MoHUA.

While Indore won the coveted title of the Cleanest City of India, Surat and Navi Mumbai won the second and third position respectively (in the > 1 lakh population category). Chhattisgarh won the prestigious title of the Cleanest State of India in the > 100 ULB category while Jharkhand was adjudged the Cleanest State of India in the <100 ULB category. An additional 117 awards were also handed over by the Minister. 

Dignitaries from all over the country, Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MOHUA, Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Municipal Commissioners and swachhta warriors attended the online event.

The Minister interacted with select beneficiaries of household toilets, SafaiKarmis or sanitation workers, informal waste pickers and members of self-help groups associated with the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) from across the country.

Since its launch in 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) has made significant progress in the area of both sanitation and solid waste management. 4,324 Urban ULBs have been declared ODF, 1,319 cities certified ODF+ and 489 cities certified ODF++ as per MoHUA’s sanitation protocols. This has been made possible through the construction of more than 66 lakhs individual household toilets and over 6 lakhs community/ public toilets, far exceeding the Mission’s targets. Additionally, over 59,900 toilets across 2900+ cities have been made live on Google Maps. In the area of solid waste management, 96% of wards have complete door-to-door collection while 66% of the total waste generated is being processed – a jump of nearly 4 times over 2014 levels of 18% processing. A total of 6 cities (Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru) have been rated as 5-star cities, 86 cities as 3-Star and 64 cities as 1-Star, as per MoHUA’s Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free Cities.

Other key highlights of the event included the release of the Swachh Survekshan 2020 Survey Report along with reports on Swachh Survekshan Innovations and Best Practices, Swachh Survekshan Social Media Report and Report on Assessment of Ganga Towns. Swachh Survekshan also saw the Minister felicitating partner organizations such as the United Nations Agency for International Development (USAID/ India), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft India, Google, Janaagraha amongst others, who have played a significant role in the success of the Mission.