Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad secured the 10th and 13th positions, respectively, in the recent "cleanest cities" survey in India, while Navi Mumbai maintained its third position nationwide and topped the charts in Maharashtra.
Representatives from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, including Commissioner and Administrator Shekhar Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Health Department Yashwant Dange, and Sanjay Kulkarni, Associate City Engineer, Environment Department, accepted the accolade.
Despite ranking 19th in the last two Swachh Survekshan surveys, Pimpri-Chinchwad's consistent efforts, including awareness campaigns and penalties for rule violations, have propelled it upward. From the 72nd position in 2017, the city reached the 19th spot in 2022 and further improved its ranking in the 2023 survey.
Improved ranks
In 2021, Pune Municipal Corporation rose to the fifth position, but in 2022, it dropped to the ninth spot. On a positive note for the district, Sasvad in Pune received the cleanest city award among those with a population below 1 lakh, while Lonavala secured the third spot in the same category.
In the "best-performing states" category of the Swachh Survekshan Awards 2023, Maharashtra claimed the top position, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The awards were presented by President Droupadi Murmu during an event attended by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and other dignitaries.
Indore retained its title as the cleanest city for the seventh consecutive year. The Swachh Survekshan 2023, involving 4,447 urban local bodies and receiving 12 core citizen responses, is touted as the world's largest cleanliness survey.
