The temple city of Puri in Odisha has been recognized as the best small city in innovation and best practices for solid waste management by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 recognized Puri for enforcing source segregation of waste for maximum recovery of value from waste, setting up of Material Recovery Facilities, and waste processing facilities with concentrated efforts on phasing out single use plastic, setting up of construction & demolition (C&D) waste processing facilities and deployment of mechanical sweepers in National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
In addition, remediation of all legacy dumpsites with the objective of making Puri Garbage Free iwas another critical component under SBM-U 2.0 for the city. Through intensive Information, Education & Communication (IEC) and behaviour change activities, the city of Puri will now further intensify and strengthen the ‘Jan Andolan’ or people’s movement that SBM-U has become synonymous with.
The award for Puri was part of the celebration of the biggest urban sanitation festival of the year, where the cleanest States and cities of Azaadi@75 Swachh Survekshan 2022 were recognized at an event organised by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi, on 1st October 2022. The day marked the first anniversary of launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban 2.0 by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 1st Oct 2021, with its aspirational vision of creating Garbage Free cities.
The award ceremony was attended by a host of dignitaries including Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, Hon’ble Minister of State, MoHUA, Urban Development Ministers and Mayors from across the country. Nearly 1,800 guests comprising state and city administrators, sector partners, subject experts, as well as youth organisations, sanitation workers, representatives from industry, Startups in sanitation and waste management sector, academic institutions, NGOs and CSOs attended the event.
The scale of Swachh Survekshan is evidenced in the consistent increase in the number of cities over the years. From surveying 73 major cities in 2016 and 434 cities in 2017 the 7th edition of Swachh Survekshan has become the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey, with 4,355 cities having participated in the survey. This year’s survey with a “People First” theme captured an unprecedented number of citizen feedback this year – over 9 crores, a marked increase from last year’s 5 crores.
