The West Bengal city of Howrah has been declared the dirtiest city in India, the recently released annual cleanliness survey, ‘Swachh Survekshan’, said. Significantly, the 10 dirtiest cities in India with a population of over 1 lakh are all from West Bengal.
Howrah is followed by Kalyani, Madhyagram, Krishnanagar, Asansol, Rishra, Bidhannagar, Kanchrapara, Kolkata and Bhatpara in the list of cities that have the worst cleanliness. Barring Kolkata and Bhatpara, the rest of the eight cities from West Bengal have a cleanliness score of below 1,000.
Besides, Meghalaya’s capital Shillong and Sitamarhi in Bihar were also among the bottom spots in the rankings. The evaluation entailed a city’s cleanliness and sanitation practices.
Notably, Madhya Pradesh’s Indore won the title of the cleanest city in India for the seventh time in a row. Indore was followed by Surat 9Gujarat), Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), and Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh).
In India, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh have been identified as the states with the highest sanitation standards, making them the cleanest. Conversely, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Nagaland were rated as the least clean states.
Among the cantonment boards, the Mhow Cantonment Board in Madhya Pradesh claimed the top spot for cleanliness, while Nainital Cantonment landed at the bottom of the rankings.
The Swachh Survekshan Awards for 2023 were announced during a ceremony led by President Droupadi Murmu, with the presence of numerous dignitaries. This extensive cleanliness survey involved the participation of 4,447 urban local bodies and garnered over 12 crore citizen responses, establishing it as the largest cleanliness survey globally.
