Kochi: Kerala’s cities have a lot to catch up with those in the other states if they were to find a place at the top in the list of ‘cleanest cities.’ As per the first survey the central government conducted after the launch of 'Swachh Bharat' mission in 2014, Thiruvananthapuram finds the 40th place among the cleanest cities, while Kozhikode comes at 44th position and Kochi 65th.
Mysuru is ranked the cleanest city, followed by Chandigarh whereas Dhanbad and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, Varanasi, are among the 10 least clean cities in India.
The survey, which was released by Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi, covered 73 cities including 51 cities with more than 10 lakh population on cleanliness and sanitation.
"The results of the survey were analysed to identify the top leaders, aspiring leaders, cities where accelerated efforts need to be made and the slow movers," Mr Naidu said. While Thiruvananth-apuram and Kozhikode are among the ‘acceleration required’ category, Kochi is a ‘slow mover’.
The other cities which have found a place in 10 cleanest category in the survey, conducted by Quality Council of India, include Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Surat (Gujarat), Rajkot (Gujarat), Gangtok (Sikkim), Pimpri-Chindwad (Maharashtra) and Greater Maharashtra.
The least clean cities included Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Asansol (West Bengal), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Patna (Bihar), Meerut (UP), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Varanasi (UP) and Kalyan Dombivili (Maharashtra).
Cities from South and West continue to do well overall but those in other parts of the country, particularly, in the North are beginning to catch up with the traditional leaders, Mr Naidu said.
