Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu announced the list of 25 cleanest cities in India, with Indore in Madhya Pradesh topping the list and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh was ranked at number three.
The survey of 434 cities was conducted as part of the Modi government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission. The cities were ranked as part of ‘Swachh Survekshan 2017’ with 37 lakh votes.
Mysure in Karnataka, which topped the list in 2016, dropped to number five this year. Noting a ‘remarkable improvement’ in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, Naidu said, “Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are the movers and shakers of the ongoing drive.”
Expressing concern over the condition of Uttar Pradesh, the minister said, “We are all going there tomorrow for discussions. The state is big, the challenge is big. We have decided to focus on that.”
Gujarat has maximum of 12 cities among the top 50 clean cities, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 11 and Andhra Pradesh with eight. Gonda in Uttar Pradesh has been ranked as the dirtiest city and Bhusawal in Maharashtra stands second-last in the ranking. Uttar Pradesh accounted for half of the bottom 50 cities in the cleanliness ranking.
