On Saturday, President Ram Nath Kovind will honour 342 cities that have received a star rating for being clean and garbage-free as part of the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2021’ initiative. The Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MOHUA) is hosting a ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ to honour cities, which will take place at Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital, according to the ministry.
Furthermore, the event will honour sanitation workers by recognising top-performing cities as part of the ‘Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge,’ a ministry-led programme to promote mechanised sewer and septic tank cleaning and prevent ‘hazardous cleaning,’ in which a person penetrates them.
“From 73 major cities surveyed in 2016, 4,320 cities are expected to participate in the 6th edition of Swachh Survekshan in 2021, making it the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey,” according to the government. “The extraordinary quantity of citizen responses received this year – over 5 crores, a significant increase from last year’s 1.87 crores – demonstrates the success of this year’s survey.” Despite significant on-the-ground hurdles caused by the COVID outbreak, the 2021 edition was completed in a record time of 28 days,” it stated.
The ministry highlighted the advances in the performance of various states and union territories, stating that six states and six UTs have showed an overall improvement in their overall ground level improvement, ranging from 5% to 25%.
Source segregation of rubbish has already begun in over 1,100 additional cities, according to the government. In addition, about 1,800 metropolitan local governments have begun to provide social benefits to sanitation personnel. Meanwhile, the ministry reported that 1,500 additional cities have notified the ban on the use, sale, and storage of non-biodegradable plastic bags, with 3,000 city administrations having implemented it. “All North East states have seen considerable improvements in public input – again another testament to how the Missions are reaching out to every person, especially those in remote places,” it continued.
The cities are normally graded using a star system, and this year, 342 cities will be awarded certificates based on their star ratings, up from 56 in 2018. There are nine cities with five stars, 166 cities with three stars, and 167 cities with one star.
The event will be attended by 1,200 guests, including Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister of housing and urban affairs, Kaushal Kishore, state ministers, chief ministers, and urban development ministers, as well as diplomats, state and city administrators and senior officials, sector partners and brand ambassadors, NGOs, and CSOs.
Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh, Rajkot and Surat in Gujarat, Mysore in Karnataka, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra have all been given five-star ratings for the year 2020.
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