Shillong earns 'Promising Swachh Shehar' recognition at national cleanliness awards

Shillong has been recognised as a 'Promising Swachh Shehar of State/UT' at the prestigious Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Awards ceremony, marking a significant achievement for the northeastern city's sanitation and waste management efforts.

President Droupadi Murmu conferred the award at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, during a ceremony that honoured 43 cities and organisations nationwide for their contributions to urban cleanliness.

Shillong was among 34 cities across different states and union territories selected for the 'Promising Swachh Shehar' distinction, based on their demonstrated improvements in sanitation, waste management, and citizen participation. The selection follows the 'One City, One Award' principle, recognising top-performing cities from each state.

The award ceremony, organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, was attended by Union Minister Manohar Lal and Minister of State Tokhan Sahu, along with representatives from winning cities across the country.

This year's Swachh Survekshan introduced a streamlined framework specifically designed to help smaller cities compete effectively with larger urban centres. The simplified assessment criteria created what officials described as a "level playing ground" for cities like Shillong to showcase their cleanliness initiatives.

The survey recognised cities for their notable progress in urban cleanliness and sanitation excellence, moving beyond traditional population-based categories to focus on improvement and innovation.

During the ceremony, President Murmu emphasised the importance of the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle approach, stating that "waste is best is the mantra and it gives strength to circularity in economy." She highlighted how waste management initiatives are creating green jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities, particularly benefiting self-help groups.

The President commended cities with populations below 100,000 for establishing excellent cleanliness standards and praised initiatives, including school interventions, source segregation startups, and zero waste colonies for strengthening the Swachh Bharat mission.

While Shillong earned recognition in the promising category, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow emerged as the top three cleanest cities overall. Other notable awards included Prayagraj winning Best Ganga Town and Secunderabad Cantonment being honoured as Best Cantonment Board.

The ceremony also included special recognition for Uttar Pradesh's exceptional waste management during the Mahakumbh festival, which attracted an estimated 660 million visitors.

Union Minister Manohar Lal announced the Swachh City Partnership initiative, where 78 top-performing cities will adopt and mentor one poor-performing city each from their respective states. Additionally, the Accelerated Dumpsite Remediation program will begin August 15, 2025, focusing on fast-tracking legacy waste remediation.

The ministry launched the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Results Dashboard during the ceremony, providing an interactive platform for viewing rankings and achievements from the nationwide cleanliness assessment.