Coimbatore ranked 42 among cities with population of 10 lakh or more - up four places from last year. Ironically, Coimbatore ranks number 1 in list of cities ranked in Tamilnadu. One can only wonder what the state of other cities will be in TN if Coimbatore which is mired in civic issues ranks number 1 in the state.
Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu cities fared poorly in the Swachh Survekshan rankings 2022. No city in the State made it to the top 40 in the national ranking in the "over 10 lakh population" category.
The report released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in which the civic body has improved its ranking from 46 in 2021.
The Corporation ranked first in the State as a clean city. It has secured 2,899.11 as the overall Swachh Survekshan score against the maximum of 7,500. This is comparatively better than the National and State average score of 2,618 and 1,945 respectively.
The civic body has performed well in many indicators including cleanliness of roads, residential areas, markets, and water bodies. Poor performance was recorded in the cleanliness of public toilets and average performance at the citizen grievance redressal.
Among the 13 states that have over 100 urban local bodies, TN ranked the last, at 13. Coimbatore secured rank 42 whereas Chennai came at rank 44 followed by Madurai (rank 45). The only award that Tamil Nadu managed to bag was the "Innovation and Best Practices" award in the ‘15,000-25,000 population’ category in the South Zone that was awarded to Podanur, Coimbatore. The annual cleanliness survey ranks cities and states on various parameters and aims to increase citizen partnership and awareness.
India celebrated 8 years of Swachh Bharat Mission and the first anniversary of SBM-Urban 2.0 in grand style as President Droupadi Murmu today felicitated the awardees of the cleanest States and cities at the award ceremony of Azadi@75 Swachh Survekshan 2022, hosted as part of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi.
The award ceremony, organized to recognize the good work done for Swachhata by towns/ cities, States and Union Territories under Swachh Survekshan 2022 and certifications for Garbage Free Star rating for cities – saw more than 160 awards under various categories being given away through the day.
Hardeep S Puri, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs also felicitated the awardee cities and States.
Congratulating the cities for their efforts, the Union Minister said, “achievements under SBM-U have been the result of the collective efforts of the citizens of urban India. Today, the Mission has taken the shape of a people’s movement, a true ‘Jan Andolan’.
The Minister concluded his address by appealing to all citizens to begin a 3-week focused campaign of source segregation from 2nd Oct, on the occasion of Swachhata Divas, so that India’s journey towards Garbage Free status is accelerated manifold.
The event was attended by over 1,500 guests comprising Mayors and other political representatives, diplomats, state and city administrators and senior officials, sector partners and brand ambassadors, academic institutions, industry associations, startups, NGOs and CSOs, while citizens from across India joined virtually to witness this occasion.
Cities had also put up screens in prominent places to enable their citizens to view the live ceremony.