Indore bags cleanest city award for the 5th time in row; Varanasi cleanest Ganga town

New Delhi:Indore once again bagged the India's cleanest city award for the fifth time in a row on Saturday during the 'Swachh Survekshan 2021'.

Surat in Gujarat was named the second cleanest, while Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh came third in the ceremony, which was held at Vigyan Bhawan, here.

The awards were conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Union Urban Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, among other leaders and dignitaries.

Varanasi was recognised as "the cleanest Ganga town" in the survey, while Chhattisgarh was adjudged the cleanest state in the country. Ahmedabad cantonment was named the cleanest cantonment in the country.

Maharashtra got more than one reason to cheer as Vita got the award for cleanest city with under one lakh population, while Lonawala grabbed the second spot in this category.

A total of 4,320 cities were covered in Swachh Survekshan 2021, the sixth edition of the survey, making it the world's largest urban cleanliness survey.

Swachh Survekshan is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India. It was launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which aimed at making India clean and free of open defecation by October 2, 2019.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan congratulated the people of Indore for achieving the feat for the fifth time successively by posting messages on Twitter.

"With the inspiration of respected PM Shri @narendramodi ji, the picture of the whole country walking on the path of cleanliness is changing. My dear Indore people have done wonders. This city made us all proud by getting the top position in #SafaimitraSurakshaChallenge . Many congratulations to all of you, thank you all” he tweeted.

Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya also took to the micro-blogging site to congratulate the "Indoris and the cleaning workers" of the city.(UNI)