VIJAYAWADA: Two major cities in Andhra Pradesh--Vijayawada and Greater Visakhapatnam -- made it to the top 10 list of cleanest Indian cities with a population of more than 10 lakh in the sixth edition of ‘Swachh Survekshan, 2021’, a nationwide annual cleanliness survey.
While Vijayawada was ranked the third cleanest Indian city, Greater Visakhapatnam grabbed the ninth slot. Tirupati bagged the third overall rank among cities with a population between 1 lakh and 10 lakh and secured awards for being a garbage-free city, citizen feedback and three-star rating and Safai Mitra. Indore (Madhya Pradesh), with a population of more than 10 lakh, retained the cleanest city award for the fifth consecutive year with 5618.14 points, while Surat (Gujarat) came second.
Vijayawada gets 5-star rating for garbage-free city
Vijayawada, which was ranked fourth in the previous edition, secured 5,368.37 points to move a slot up, while Greater Visakhapatnam retained the same rank with 4,717.92 points. Municipal Commissioner of Vi jayawada V Prasanna Venkatesh and Mayor Rayana Bhagya Lakshmi received the award from President Ram Nath Kovind during the ‘SwachhAmritMahotsav- 2021’ programme held at New Delhi on Saturday. Vijayawada was also declared a garbage-free city with fivestar rating.
The city which got three-star ratings in the garbage- free cities in 2020, secured five-star rating in the latest survey. Greater Visakhapatnam, too, improved its rating to three-star from the previous one-star. “This is a proud moment for the Vijayawada City, and this is the result of the team work,” Venkatesh told TNIE. He congratulated the sanitation staff, public health workers and other staff for keeping the city clean. An event would be organized soon to felicitate the workers, he said.
The municipal commissioner further said that Vijayawada was declared as a Water Plus City. The civic body has been maintaining a public park at Bhavanipuram, using treated sewage water. Meanwhile, the city also bagged the Prerak Dauur Samman Award in Gold (Anupam) in the following categories: segregation of waste into wet, dry and hazard categories; processing capacity against wet waste generated; processing and recycling of wet and dry waste; construction and Demolition (C&D) waste processing; percentage of waste going to landfills; and sanitation status of cities.
The GVMC officials, meanwhile, expected the city to get five-star rating in the garbagefree city, as the waste-toenergy plant and biomining project were being commissioned. The five-star rating would have improved the city’s chances of winning a slot among the top three. Under the Prerak Daaur Samman, a new performance category, was introduced in 2021. Tirupati, categorised as ‘Divya’ (platinum), figured among the top five cities. Under the first-ever Safairmitra Suraksha Challenge, Nellore figured among the top three.
The challenge, launched last year by MoHUA, aimed at eradicating human fatalities from hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. After receiving the award, Greater Visakhapatnam Mayor Golagani Hari Venkata Kumar said the honour was achieved due to the cooperation of people of the city. Along with the mayor, GVMC commissioner G Lakshmisha, and former commissioner G Srijana, also attended the award ceremony. Visakhapatnam also secured the award for the best citizen feedback city.