Bhubaneswar adjudged among cleanest cities in India

BHUBANESWAR: After getting the number one Smart City tag across the country, the state capital of Odisha has added one more feather to its crown as one of the cleanest cities in the country.

Union urban development ministry has adjudged Bhubaneswar as one of the cleanest cities in the country.

The honour will be made official by Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu at an event in New Delhi on Monday.

On behalf of the ministry of urban development, Quality Council of India (QCI) had carried out a sanitation survey Swachh Sarvekshan from January 1 to January 20. The survey was conducted in 75 cities across the nation and Bhubaneswar has emerged as one of the winners of the clean city title.

To emerge as the winners, the state capital had to get past competitors such as Mysore, Bangalore, Chennai, Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Hyderabad, Pune and Visakhapatnam. Cuttack was the other Odisha city that took part in the sanitation challenge.

The Swachh Sarvekshan survey evaluated the city’s sanitation scenario on the basis of components such as strategy for open defecation free town, integrated solid waste management, information, education and behaviour change communication activities, sweeping, door-to-door collection and transportation of solid waste, processing and disposal of waste, provision of public and community toilets and construction of household individual toilets.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Anant Narayan Jena said tThis is another proud moment for the citizens of Bhubaneswar.

Citizen participation also remained a crucial aspect of the survey. According to QCI officials, they have taken inputs from more than 2 crore citizens from the 75 cities. It reflected their opinion on the sanitation facilities available in their respective cities.