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New Delhi : President Ram Nath Kovind will honour the awardees of Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2021 at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav’ being organised by Union Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Ministry at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on November 20, 2021.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a Garbage Free India under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, the ceremony will also award cities certified under the Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free Cities. The Mahotsav will also recognise top performing cities under the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge earlier initiated by the Ministry. This is a major landmark since launch of SBM-U 2.0 by the  Prime Minister ona total of  October 1, 2021.

The scale of Swachh Survekshan is evidenced in the consistent increase in the number of cities over the years. From surveying 73 major cities in 2016, 4,320 cities have participated in 2021, the 6th edition of Swachh Survekshan which has become became the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey.

The success of this year’s survey can be gauged through the unprecedented number of citizen feedback received this year – over 5 crore, a marked increase from last year’s 1.87 crore. The 2021 edition was conducted in record time of 28 days despite several on-ground challenges owing to the Covid pandemic.

There have been significant on-ground improvements in performance of States and cities, as compared to the previous year.  For example,

  • 6 States and 6 UTs have shown overall improvement (ranging between 5 – 25%) in their overall ground level performance over last year
  • more than 1,100 additional cities have started source segregation;
  •  nearly 1,800 additional ULBs have started extending welfare benefits to their sanitation workers;
  • more than 1,500 additional ULBs have notified ban on the use, sale and storage of non-biodegradable plastic bags; in all, more than 3,000 ULBs have notified this ban.
  • all North East states have shown significant improvement in their citizens’ feedback – yet another testimony to how the Missions is reaching out to every citizen, including in far flung areas.

A similar rigour was observed in the certification process under the Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities, a SMART framework introduced in 2018 by MoHUA to holistically evaluate cities across waste management parameters. In 2018, only 56 cities were awarded certification on some star rating. This year, the number has gone up manifold to 342 cities (with 9 five-star cities, 166 three-star cities, and 167 one-star cities). Moreover,  this year’s certification process witnessed participation of 2,238 cities signaling urban India’s commitment towards the vision of Garbage Free India, according to a PIB release.

Swachh Amrit Mahotsav is a reaffirmation of SBM-U’s steadfast focus to improve the lives of Safaimitras, the frontline soldiers in the Swachhata journey. The award ceremony will salute the efforts of the top performing cities under the ‘Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge’, an initiative introduced last November by MoHUA to ensure safety and dignity of sewer and septic tank cleaners and eradicating the menace of hazardous cleaning from the urban sanitation lexicon. A total of 246 cities were part of this first of its kind assessment process that is today propelling the ‘manhole to machine hole’ revolution in urban India, focused around “zero-human casualty” while cleaning sewers and septic tanks.

The award ceremony, to be attended by a host of dignitaries, including Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State, MoHUA, Chief Ministers, Urban Development Ministers, and Mayors from across the country, will see over 300 awards being presented across categories.