Swachh Survekshan: Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Vijayawada Bag Super Swachh League Cities Award
The Swachh Survekshan results were announced by President Droupadi Murmu at a special ceremony in Delhi.
Published : July 17, 2025 at 12:58 PM IST
New Delhi: Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai and Vijayawada on Thursday bagged the Super Swachh League Cities award under the category of more than 10 lakh population for 2024-25 from President Droupadi Murmu in New Delhi. Similarly, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Lucknow have bagged Swachh Shehar award in the same category during the Swachchhata Survekshan Awards 2024-25 organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Conferring the awards, President Murmu said that Swachh Survekshan has proven to be a successful experiment in assessing and encouraging the efforts made by our cities towards cleanliness.
She said that the world’s largest cleanliness survey was conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for the year 2024, with participation from various stakeholders, state governments, urban bodies, and approximately 14 crore citizens.
The programme also announced recognition of the special initiative of Swachh Mahakumbh 2025 under the Ministerial Awardees, special category. In the same category, GVMC Visakhapatnam, Jabalpur, Gorakhpur, Secunderabad Cantt and Prayagraj also received the awards.
The President said that our cultural and spiritual consciousness has emphasized cleanliness since ancient times.
“The tradition of keeping our homes, places of worship, and the surroundings clean was an integral part of our lifestyle. Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi used to say, cleanliness is next to godliness. He considered cleanliness as the cornerstone of religion, spirituality, and civic life. I had started my journey of public service with work related to cleanliness,” she said.
As the Vice President of the Notified Area Council, I used to visit wards every day and supervise the cleanliness work, she said.
In another Ministerial category awardees under Promising Swachh Shehar-Sri Vijat Puram, Rajahmundry, Jairampur, North Lakhimpur and Guwahati were the top five cities receiving the recognition.
The President said that minimizing wastage by using minimum resources and re-using them for the same purpose or other purpose, has always been part of our lifestyle.
“The basic principles of circular economy and systems of reduce-reuse-recycle are modern and widespread forms of our ancient lifestyle. For example, the traditional lifestyle of tribal communities is simple. They use less resources and stay in harmony with the weather and environment, and in partnership with other community members. They do not waste natural resources. The modern systems of circularity could be strengthened by adopting such behaviour and traditions,” Murmu said.
The President said that the first and most important step in the waste management value chain is source segregation. All stakeholders and every household need to pay utmost attention to this step. Zero-waste colonies are setting good examples.
Murmu appreciated the School Level Assessment initiative, started with the objective that students adopt cleanliness as a life value. She said that it would have very beneficial and far-reaching results.
A total of 23 cities have been awarded with the Super Swachh League Cities award under different population categories. The cities also include Noida, Chandigarh, Mysuru, Ujjain, Gandhinagar, Guntur, New Delhi, Tirupati, Ambikapur, Lonavala, Vita, Saswad, Deolali Pravara, Dungarpur, Panchgani, Patan, Panhala, Bishrampur and Budni.
Similarly, 15 cities have bagged the Swachh Shehar awards under different population categories. The cities also include Mira-Bhayandar, Bilapsur, Jamshedpur, Dewas, Karhad, Karnal, Panaji, Aska, Kumhari, Bilha, Chikiti and Shahganj.
A total of 34 cities bagged Promising Swachh Shehar awards under the category of Ministerial awardees. The cities include includes Sri Vijaya Puram, Rajahmundry, Jairampur, North Lakhimpur, Guwahati, Patna, Raipur, Daman, Sanquelim, Vadodara, Sonipat, Theog, Jammu, Bundu, Davanagere, Mattannur, Kargil, Gwalior, Pimpri Chinchwad, Jiribam, Shillong, Lunglei, Jalukie, Bhubaneswar, Oulgaret-Ozhukarai, Bathinda, Jaipur Greater, Mangan, Namakkal, Greater Hyderabad, Khowai, Agra, Lalkuan and Baidyabati.
President Murmu said that controlling plastic and electronic waste and preventing pollution caused by them is a big challenge. With proper efforts, we can reduce the country's plastic emissions significantly.
“The central government banned some items containing single-use plastic in the year 2022. In the same year, the government issued guidelines for Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic packaging. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders, including producers, brand owners, and importers, to ensure that these guidelines are fully followed,” she said.
The President said that efforts related to cleanliness have economic aspects, cultural dimensions, and geographical aspects. She expressed confidence that all citizens would participate in the Swachh Bharat Mission with full dedication.
She said that with well-thought-out and strong resolutions, the developed India by the year 2047 will be one of the cleanest countries in the world.
About Swachh Survekshan
The country-wide cleanliness survey was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2016, Swachh Survekshan and drives urban sanitation improvement through citizen participation and third-party validation.
According to a MoHUA spokesperson, for the year 2024-25, a special category - 'Super Swachh League' has been introduced creating a separate league of cities excelling in cleanliness. The cities which have been in top 3 in at least 2 years in the last 3 years (2021-2023) have made the cut. There are 12 cities in the Super Swachh League.
As per the ministry spokesperson, moving ahead, top three ranking cities in each population category will move into the league for the subsequent years. ULBs in this league will be assessed on additional aspirational indicators and must maintain a score of 85% or higher to retain their position.
Read More:
