CONGRATULATIONS INDORE & BHOPAL FOR MAKING MADHYA PRADESH PROUD YET AGAIN

17 May 2018

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The results of the Swachh Survekshan 2018 were declared yesterday and Madhya Pradesh has been able to achieve its outstanding feat once again. Indore and Bhopal have retained the 1^st and 2^nd position in the list of ‘Top 10 Cleanest Cities of India’. I take this opportunity to congratulate the people and the administration of the two cities for this remarkable achievement. Our collective efforts have taken us a step closer in fulfilling our Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a Swachh Bharat, Shrestha Bharat.

Our country has always believed in ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness’. Emulating the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, our Prime Minister initiated the pioneering campaign of Swachh Bharat that aims to make India clean through behavioural change. Since the very start of the campaign, Madhya Pradesh has actively participated and made its contribution. 19 districts in the state have already been declared Open Defecation Free and by October 2, 2018, the whole of Madhya Pradesh will be declared ODF. 56 lakh toilets have been built in the rural areas since 2014 while more than 62 thousand have been built in 2018 alone. More than 10 thousand Gram Panchayats and 26 thousand villages have been declared Open Defecation Free. 4.8 lakh individual toilets and greater than 18 thousand community toilets have been constructed in the urban areas of the state.

Special attention is being paid to an efficient management of waste generated in the households and industries.  A 9MW waste-management plant is in operation in Jabalpur. Madhya Pradesh’s first waste-to-energy plant that can generate biogas to power street-lights or other similar use was inaugurated in Bhopal in 2017. Along with healthy sanitation, the government of Madhya Pradesh has also been focusing its attention on cleansing and reviving our rivers. Sewage treatment plants are being set up to prevent wastewater flowing into rivers. The panchayats have been entrusted with the responsibility of keeping their jurisdiction clean and this has given a fillip to a minimum government, maximum governance.

However, as I always say, all this would not have been possible without the active contribution of people of the state. I thank the citizens of Indore and Bhopal from the bottom of my heart for taking up Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as a mission and converting it into a mass movement. Each time I visit Indore I am amazed at the zeal with which people there maintain cleanliness. It is their sense of belongingness that motivated them to keep their surroundings clean.

The same applies to the people of Bhopal. Had they not waken up to the cause of cleanliness, we would have never been able to create such phenomenal results yet another time. This has also created healthy competition between the two cities. I am sure we will have many more achievements to celebrate when the final list is shared. It is overwhelming to witness Madhya Pradesh evolve as one of the cleanest states in India.

Cleanliness should be a habit for all of us, not a compulsion. Let us realize its importance in our life and take an oath to maintain proper hygiene and sanitation at home as well as around us. It is no mean achievement to retain the top two slots in Top 10 ranking. Vishakhapatnam which was ranked 3^rd last year has lost the spot to Chandigarh. I conclude by extending best wishes to people, administration, municipal commissioner and mayor of Indore and Bhopal. I am sure that we will have many more cities of the state in the top 100 list of Swachh Survekshan 2018.