Swachh Survekshan 2020: Indore once again retains the cleanest city of India spot

New Delhi, Aug 20: The government on Thursday announced the results of annual survey of cleanliness, Swachh Survekshan 2020 as Indore once again retained the top spot as the cleanest city of India.

Swachh Survekshan 2020 is the fifth edition of the survey that was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2016.

According to reports, a total of 129 top performing cities and states were awarded in the virtual programme called "Swachh Mahotsav". This programme has been organised by the ministry of housing and urban affairs.

It is also said that Swachh Survekshan 2020 covered 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 92 Ganga towns. This survey was carried out in 28 days.

Earlier, Mysuru in Karnataka had won the award for the cleanest city of India in the first edition of the survey, while Indore has retained the top position for three consecutive years (2017,2018, 2019). In a first, the Swachh Survekshan programme in 2019 was a completely digital survey completed in a record time.

Swachh Survekshan is put in place to monitor the performance of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, which was launched on October 2, 2014, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It aimed to make India open-defecation free by 2019.

The survey was introduced by the government with the objective of generating large-scale participation in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. It was also aim at inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among cities towards becoming India's cleanest cities.