ITANAGAR, July 17: Jairampur town in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district has been declared a ‘Promising Swachh Shehar’ in the government’s annual cleanliness survey, an official said on Thursday.
The ‘Swachh Survekshan’ awards were presented by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal during a ceremony in New Delhi in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and other dignitaries.
State Urban Affairs Minister Balo Raja and Urban Affairs Commissioner Vivek Pandey received the award on behalf of the state, an official release said here.
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The recognition is a testament to the relentless work of Jairampur’s urban local body, sanitation workers, and the active participation of residents, it said.
It also marks a proud moment for the state’s urban development efforts under the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM-U), the release said.
Ahmedabad was named the cleanest big city, followed by Bhopal and Lucknow in the survey, even as Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai and Vijayawada were elevated to a newly formed ‘Super Swachh League Cities’ category for demonstrating exceptional performance in sanitation.
Following the awards ceremony, a meeting of urban development ministers was held in the national capital where Raja urged the Centre to revise funding policies for hilly and northeastern states.
He recommended lowering the population eligibility criteria to 5,000 for small towns and district headquarters, citing the exclusion of many deserving areas under current per capita-based models like SBM-U and AMRUT, it said.
Noting that Arunachal Pradesh has over 80 per cent forest cover, Raja emphasised the need for equitable urban development in frontier regions.
He also called for a separate, flexible funding mechanism for the northeast, the release said. (PTI)
