Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru have been rated as five-star cities, 86 cities as three-star and 64 cities as one-star as per the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' rating protocol for garbage-free cities.

The announcement was made during the Swachh Survekshan awards declared by Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. It is meant to monitor the performance of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, launched in 2014. The survey was conducted in 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 92 Ganga towns and was completed in 28 days.

Indore city in Madhya Pradesh emerged as the cleanest city for the fourth time in a row, Surat and Navi Mumbai won the second and third position respectively in the more than one lakh population category.

Mysuru city in Karnataka had won the award for the cleanest city of India in the first edition of the survey in 2016, while Indore had retained the top position for three consecutive years.

Chhattisgarh won the prestigious title of the cleanest state in the more than hundred urban local bodies category, while Jharkhand was adjudged the winner in the less than hundred urban local bodies category. An additional 117 awards were also handed over by the Minister.

Addressing the winners and citizens at large, the minister said, "More than five years ago, the Prime Minister had seen a dream - the dream of a Swachh Bharat. Today, we feel immensely proud, as well as humbled, to see how every citizen of urban India has come together to make that dream a tangible reality."

The Minister further exhorted everyone to play their part and be a true Swachhata Warrior by inculcating habits of Swachhata such as practising proper segregation of waste at source, saying no to single-use plastic and treating sanitation workers with respect and dignity, among others.

Puri outlined the vision for the next phase of the Mission. He said,"I am also concerned about the safety of our sanitation workers, our frontline warriors in this 'Kranti'. Therefore, provision of adequate safety gear and mechanised equipment to all sanitation workers will be paid maximum attention in the next phase of the Mission."

Meanwhile, in the category of less than one lakh population, Karad, Saswad and Lonavala cities in Maharashtra emerged victorious.

Ahmedabad in Gujarat ranked first in the cleanest mega-city category, while Chhattisgarh's Ambikapur secured the cleanest smallest city tag. Bengaluru won the best self-sustainability award in the megacity category and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh won the award in the small city category.

New Delhi Municipal Council secured the cleanest capital city tag, while Lucknow and Bhopal won the fastest mover capital and most sustainable capital award in the pan-India survey.
(IANS)