Kashi emerges as ‘best Ganga town’ in Swachh Survekshan

Varanasi: While Indore has been adjudged the cleanest city of the country for the fifth consecutive year, Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, once again failed to find a place in the top-10 cleanest cities in the Swachh Survekshan 2021. However, Varanasi emerged as the ‘Best Ganga Town’ in the Swachh Survekshan.
According to the results of the swachh survekshan announced by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on Saturday, Varanasi secured the 30th position in the national ranking of the cities having a population of more than 10 lakh. The city lagged behind other cities of Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow (12), Ghaziabad (18), Kanpur (21), Agra (24), Prayagraj (26) and Meerut (27).
In this year’s survekshan, the city slipped three steps down from the previous survekshan in 2020, when it was ranked at 27th position. In the past, the city was placed at the 70th rank in 2019, 29th rank in 2018, 32nd rank in 2017 and 65th rank in the first survekshan in 2016.
The city also lagged behind in the clean cantonment category, as Varanasi Cantonment Board got 20th ranking among the clean cantonment boards. In district ranking too, Varanasi was placed at the 105th position.
The only thing of comfort for the citizens and the officials is that the city was adjudged the ‘best’ among Ganga towns. The President Ramnath Kovind gave the trophy and certificate to UP Minister Ashutosh Tandon, Varanasi mayor Mridula Jaiswal and municipal commissioner Pranay Singh at a function held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.
“It is a matter of pride that Varanasi was recognized as the best Ganga Town in the country. The prize received from the President will inspire use to do better,” said the mayor.
The municipal commissioner said that being an important centre of pilgrimage and tourism Varanasi is visited by the pilgrims and tourists in large numbers. They visit the riverfront for bathing and boating in the Ganga. Proper arrangements have been made for the cleaning of ghats, he said. On the city’s performance in national ranking, he said that efforts will be made to improve the overall ranking.
Swachh Survekshan is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India. It was launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which aimed to make India clean and free of open defecation. The first survey was undertaken in 2016 and covered 73 cities and by 2021 the survey grew to cover 4,320 cities.
The objective of the survey is to encourage large scale citizen participation, ensure sustainability of initiatives taken towards garbage free and open defecation free cities, provide credible outcomes which would be validated by third party certification, institutionalize existing systems through online processes and create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities more habitable and sustainable. Additionally, the survey also intends to foster a spirit of healthy competition amongst towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens and move towards creating cleaner cities.