Three AP cities in top-10 as state leads south in Swachh rankings

VISAKHAPATNAM: Andhra Pradesh scripted a success story in Swachh Survekshan 2020 rankings, announced on Thursday, as Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati made it to the top-10 list.
While Vijayawada was adjudged the fourth cleanest in the country among cities with more than 10 lakh population, Vizag bagged ninth rank in the same category. Tirupati secured a well-deserved sixth rank among the cities with less than 10 lakh population.

AP is the only south Indian state to have three cities in the top-10 list. In fact, all these three cities bettered their performances compared to last year’s rankings — Tirupati was eighth, Vijayawada 12th and Vizag 23rd.
The other AP cities/towns which outscored other Indian cities to find a place in the top-100 list include Rajahmundry (51), Ongole (57), Kakinada (58), Tenali (75), Kadapa (76), Chittoor (81), Hindupur (93) and Tadipatri (99). When it comes to the overall national rankings of urban local bodies with more than one lakh population, Vijayawada was ranked sixth in the country, while Tirupati and Visakhapatnam were ranked 12th and 17th, respectively.
Dr P Sampath Kumar, managing director, Swachha Andhra Corporation, said AP has been ranked sixth in SS-2020 in state-wise rankings. “Apart from the rankings, several awards were bestowed upon on various cities/towns of the state. Vijayawada was adjudged India’s ‘cleanest big city’ (10-40 lakh population), Tirupati best ‘self-sustainable small city’ (1-3 lakh population), Palamaneru cleanest city (50,000-1 lakh population), Chirala best ‘self-sustainable city’ (50,000-1 lakh population), Atmakur best ‘self-sustainable city’ (25,000-50,000 population), and Mummidivaram was ‘fastest mover’ city (25,000-50,000 population),” he said.
GVMC commissioner G Srijana said the credit goes to all officers and staff of the corporation, especially the public health team. “While Vizag improved its performance in direct observation, garbage-free cities rating, segregation and processing of waste, and citizen feedback categories in the survey, it still lagged behind in League 1 documentation and Swachhata app downloads. Otherwise, the city would have made it to the top-five list. The GVMC will work on its weaknesses and strive for a better ranking next year,” said Srijana.
While Indore retained its position as the cleanest city for the fourth consecutive year, Surat was ranked second this year. In order to foster a healthy competition among cities for improving cleanliness standards, the Union government initiated the survey in 2016, rating 73 cities across the country. But the number of cities participating in the survey increased to 4,242 in 2020, as has the competition.

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