Visakhapatnam gets off to a slow start in Swachh Survekshan 2019

Visakhapatnam is lagging behind eight other Indian cities in the citizen feedback component of Swachh Survekshan 2019. While the city ranked top in the segment of the Swacch Survekshan in 2018, it seems to have got off to a slow start this year.

It may be recalled that in Swachh Survekshan 2018, Visakhapatnam outscored other cities by gaining the maximum response from its citizens. However, the figures have plummeted this year with the number of responses falling to 53,000.

According to Times of India, the city of Lucknow has emerged on top in the citizen feedback component of the Swachh Survekshan this year. Reportedly, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh garnered about 3.56 lakh votes while Agra, Kanpur, and Hyderabad followed suit.

It may be noted that with 1250 marks, the citizens’ response forms 25% of the weightage of the total 5000 marks, and plays a crucial part in determining the final result. Also, about 46,000 responses were recorded from Vijayawada while 36,343 responses came in from Tirupati.

Visakhapatnam’s position in the rankings slipped from 3rd place in 2017 to 7th place in Swachh Survekshan 2018. Last year, the cities of Indore, Bhopal, and Chandigarh had emerged as the top three cleanest cities in India.

Flagged off on 4 January this year, Swachh Survekshan 2019 is being carried is being carried out in 4300 cities across the country. While the last year’s survey allocated a total of 4000 marks as the cumulative score, the latest survey will allocate 5000 marks for the same.