19 out of 25 dirties cities are from West Bengal, Indore is the cleanest: Swachhata Sarvekshan Survey

Representational image (Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

The Union housing and Urban Affairs Ministry conducted a cleanliness survey covering all the states and union territories in India which summed up the 25 dirtiest cities in India out of which 19 are from West Bengal.

According to the report released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jharkhand is the cleanest state in India followed by Maharashtra and Chattisgarh, while Bhadreshwar in Gujarat -- with a population of over one lakh -- is at the bottom of the list of 500 cities

Delighted to be in Indore! I congratulate the citizens of Indore for getting the 1st position in Swachh Survekshan.

In Indore, inaugurated development works which will contribute to the progress of our cities. pic.twitter.com/mCGnepePsc

Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 23, 2018

Among the cities, Indore is the cleanest -- second year in a row -- followed by Bhopal and Chandigarh. The PM also gave away the award to the cleanest states and cities at a function.

Varanasi, PM Modi's parliamentary constituency, was ranked 29 among the list of 500 cities. Last year it was ranked 32.

Earlier the ministry released the winners of 2018 Swachhata Sarvekshan but did not reveal the names of dirtiest cities.

HOW WAS THE SURVEY CONDUCTED?

For this project, over 2700 assessors from Karvy Data management services Limited visited over 4203 Urban Local Bodies as a part of the survey which was conducted between January and March, taking around 66 days in total.

The cities were divided on the basis of six parameters, including:

• Collection of municipal solid waste
• Transportation of municipal waste
• Processing of the waste
• Disposal of the waste
• Sanitation-related progress
• Innovation and best practice

Further, the ministry did quality check on these cities by giving weightage in the cleanliness survey as per the following factors:

1. Service level progress was given 35 per cent weightage, under which the officials verified the documents and official tasks handed over to the municipalities by Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).
2. Direct Observation was given 30 per cent weightage, for which the team went to inspect the general cleanliness in the cities by making surprise visits in different parts of the city and public conveniences covering community/public toilets.

Yamini Aiyar, the president and chief executive of Centre for Policy Research, feels that while such data and ranking are useful and important exercise as they act as a periodic check and puts the spotlight on the issue, but the real devil lies in the detail.