Govt to form ‘golden city’ club to encourage others after Indore named cleanest city for 7 straight years

New Delhi: The government will set up a ‘golden city club’ to give more states a change to rank top among those with the cleanest cities, Union housing and urban affairs minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Friday. Indore won the title of India's cleanest city for the seventh consecutive year in 2023.

“Indore has managed to hold the top position for years. Hence, we have decided that whoever comes first this time, we will fit it into a different category called ‘golden city club’. We will then keep the winning city aside and consider the next one on the list for the golden city club, thus creating a different competition to enter this club,” Khattar told reporters before the launch of the Swabhav Swachhata Sanskaar Swachhata (4S) campaign.

In his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the government's cleanliness efforts were driving significant changes across the nation. Taking this forward, the Jal Shakti ministry will launch the 4S campaign on the 10th anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). It will be rolled out from 17 September to 2 October.

Also read: Maharashtra marked India's cleanest state, Indore wins cleanest city for 7th time

Khattar also said an online portal would be developed to track the status of SBM and a that a cleanliness drive would be conducted before the start of the beginning of 4S campaign. About 85,000 places have already been identified for cleaning of garbage. 

Transforming garbage dumps

Khattar added that 427 dumpsites across 4,500 acres have been cleaned up and will be transformed into urban areas. Under SBM-Urban 2.0, the Indian government plans to transform garbage dumps in urban areas to protect the environment and reduce health risks. Many states are taking steps to transform and beautify these garbage dumps.

Also read: Air pollution kills even in ‘clean’ Indian cities, study says

Under SBM-Gramin, more than 587,000 villages across India have achieved open defecation free-plus status as of September, with over 392,000 villages implementing solid waste management systems and about 495,000 setting up liquid waste management systems. 

In the case of SBM-Urban, about 6.3 million household toilets and more than 630,000 public toilets have been built, according to an official statement. The approved financial outlay ₹62,009 crore is for SBM-U phase 1 and ₹1.41 trillion for phase 2.

Cleanliness target: 200,000 dirty spots

The government also aims to clean 200,000 difficult and dirty spots during the 4S campaign, the theme of Swachh Bharat Mission this year, 

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Khattar and Union minister for Jal Shakti C.R. Patil announced on Friday, informing that these spots will be mapped digitally.

So far, about 85,000 such places have been identified, Khattar told reporters.

At the launch event of the 4S campaign, both the ministers informed that central public sector undertakings, industry partners and non-profits were being encouraged to adopt cleanliness target units. 

The campaign includes mega cleanliness drives at various sites such as tourist locations, public buildings, commercial areas, community toilets, public toilets, water bodies, zoos, and sanctuaries.

Khattar informed that about 2,300 dumpsites in urban areas with 220 million tonnes of waste had been identified, of which 427 dumpsites with 90 million tonnes of waste had been completely remediated, and 4,500 acres of land reclaimed.