Swachh Survekshna: Varanasi, Union ministers’ cities dirtiest

The results of cleanliness survey-2016 – Swachh Survekshna, carried out in 73 cities, have raised questions on the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, spick and span. 

According to the list of clean cities, which was unveiled by Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Monday, Mysuru (Karnataka) is the cleanest, while Dhanbad (Jharkhand) is the dirtiest city in the country. 

The temple town of Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) figures among the dirtiest cities and ranks 63 on the list of 73 cities surveyed. The Prime Minister had in November 2014 launched Swachh Bharat campaign in Varanasi by removing silt deposited along the banks of the Ganga at Assi Ghat. 

Among the cleanest cities are Chandigarh and Tiruchirapalli, which have ranked at second and third, respectively; while the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has stood  fourth as the best performer among Smart Cities and best in service-level status.

According to the findings of Swachh Survekshna, cities in the southern and eastern parts of the country have taken better to the Swachh Bharat Mission than those in the north and west India. 

The first survey was conducted in 2014, in which Mysuru was adjudged the winner among the 476 cities and municipal bodies surveyed. The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in October 2014. The comparative analysis of the two surveys shows that four cities – Visakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot and Gangtok – have worked on sanitation and hygiene to rank in the top 10 in 2016. The cities have pushed down Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Nashik, which had figured in the top 10 clean cities in 2014.

According to the 2016 survey, Dhanbad has been adjudged as the dirtiest city, followed by Asansol – the parliamentary constituency of MoS for Urban Development Babul Supriyo; and Itanagar, represented by MoS for Home Khiren Rijiju. 

The 10 dirtiest cities include three cities from UP – Varanasi, Ghaziabad and Meerut. Interestingly, all three are represented by BJP MPs, including PM Modi, MoS for External Affairs VK Singh and Rajendra Agrawal. Kalyan Dombivilli, Jamshedpur, Raipur and Patna are the other cities that figure at the bottom of the cleanliness list.

Venkaiah Naidu has blamed the local administration for the poor performance of cities. When asked why the PM’s constituency did not fare well, Naidu said: “The local administration can best reply to this. If it has fared poorly, then the administration should work towards improvement.”