Indore, Surat & Vijayawada are India’s top 3 cleanest cities

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Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for the fifth consecutive year followed by Surat in the second spot while Vijayawada was ranked third, relegating Navi Mumbai to the fourth position in the Central government's annual cleanliness awards announced on Saturday.</p>
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New Delhi was ranked fifth in the list, followed by Ambikapur, Tirupati, Pune, Noida and Ujjain in descending order in the top 10 cleanest cities. Lucknow has been ranked the lowest among 25 cities in the same category.</p>
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Chhattisgarh retained the first position in the cleanest state category in the Swachh Survekshan Awards for 2021 with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh adjudged the second and third cleanest states in the country, having more than 100 urban local bodies.</p>
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In the category of states with less than 100 urban local bodies, Jharkhand has been ranked first, followed by Haryana and Goa.</p>
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Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha, has been adjudged the "cleanest Ganga town" while Bihar's Munger and Patna have been ranked second and third in the category.</p>
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President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the awards in presence of Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at an event in Delhi.</p>
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The ministry of housing and urban affairs said in the latest nationwide cleanliness survey, 4,320 cities were covered in 28 days  while over 4.2 core people had given their feedback which was taken into account.</p>
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According to the ministry, Vita city of Maharashtra has been ranked the cleanest city with less than one lakh population, followed by Lonavala and Sasvad.</p>
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New Delhi Municipal Council secured the first position in the country''s cleanest small city category of 1-3 lakh population while Hoshangawad and Triputi emerged as the "Fastest Mover small city" and "Best Small City in Citizens' Feedback" categories, respectively.</p>
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Noida emerged as the country's "cleanest medium city" in the category of 3-10 lakh population. Navi Mumbai bagged the first award in the category of 'Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge'.</p>
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In the category of cantonment boards, Ahmedabad was ranked the cleanest city, followed by Meerut and Delhi.</p>
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Maharashtra has bagged a total of 92 awards, the highest by any State in this year’s Survekshan, followed by Chhattisgarh with 67 awards.</p>