IMPHAL, May 4 - Manipur�s State capital Imphal is North East India�s third cleanest city after Gangtok and Aizawl, a nationwide cleanliness survey by Union Ministry of Urban Development has found.
In the survey of 434 cities, conducted as part of Modi Government�s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission, Imphal is ranked 122 (1192 score), while Aizawl (1222 score) and Gangtok (1414 score) are ranked 105 and 50 respectively, according to the 3rd edition of Swachh Survekshan released on Thursday.
Imphal, which was initially ranked 83 out of 500 selected cities of the country in 2015, has moved up to 15th in ranking for which the State was conferred with �Top Mover� in North Eastern Region in 2016 survey wherein Gangtok and Aizawl were ranked 8th and 41st.
Guwahati, the premier city of NE which was ranked 50 in 2016, is ranked 134 this time and becomes the fourth cleanest city in the region and it was followed by Kohima 208, Itanagar 216, Shillong276, Agartala 290. In 2016, Agartala was ranked 33, Shillong 53rd and Itanagar 71st while Kohima was not listed that time.
Cities were evaluated on five parameters � waste collection, solid-waste management, construction of toilets, sanitation strategies and behaviour change communication. The rankings are based on the data provided by municipal corporations, independent assessors and feedback from people. In all, 3.7 million citizens participated in the exercise.
The cleanliness survey was carried out during January and February. Launched in 2014, the Swachh Bharat campaign aims to make India clean and open-defecation free by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi.
Though there cannot be absolute comparison between the rankings of 2016 and for 2017 since the parameters have been tweaked, it�s evident from the results that State capitals like Aizawl and Kohima have improved their rankings.