AP Wins Six Swachh Survekshan Awards, Claims 25% Of National Honours
The minister said the state had improved its performance compared to last year, when it won five of the 78 national awards.
Vijayawada:Andhra Pradesh has won six awards in the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 rankings, accounting for 25 per cent of the 24 awards secured by eligible municipalities across the country.
This was stated by municipal administration minister Ponguru Narayana in a media meet at AP Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The minister said the state had improved its performance compared to last year, when it won five of the 78 national awards. This year, AP secured six of the 60 national awards.
Of the state's 123 urban local bodies that participated in the competition, 24 qualified for national-level recognition and six won awards.
The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation secured the first rank in the Swachh Shehar category, while Vijayawada stood third in the national clean cities rankings. Guntur secured third rank in the Swachh Shehar category. Rajahmundry was recognised as the state's first promising Swachh Shehar, while Tirupati and Kuppam secured third ranks in the Swachh Shehar Jodi category.
Narayana said AP had also emerged as a legacy waste-free state. Around 153 lakh tonnes of accumulated waste remained when the previous government left office. Nearly 85 lakh tonnes were cleared during the first year of the present government, and the remaining legacy waste had since been almost completely cleared.
The government had sanctioned 106 solid waste processing plants, of which around 60 had been established. Another 20 would be set up shortly. The state was also exploring power generation through solid waste processing plants.
Sewage treatment plants had been sanctioned in every municipality to treat household wastewater. The facilities were expected to be completed within six months.
Narayana said the government aimed to achieve 50 per cent green cover by 2047, with tree plantation planned at five-metre intervals. It had sanctioned `900 crore under the HEM project, prioritising parks and water bodies.
The Chief Minister had directed officials to provide treated drinking water through household taps across the state within two years. Projects were being implemented through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Amrut Dhara, UID Dhara and HAM.
The government was also spending Rs 50,000 crore through central and state-funded programmes on basic urban infrastructure. These included end-to-end roads to prevent dust pollution and the replacement of conventional streetlights with LED lights.
Swachh Andhra Corporation chairman Pattabhiram, MAUD principal secretary Suresh Kumar, CDMA director Sampath Kumar and municipal commissioners of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Guntur and Kuppam attended the media meet.