AIZAWL, March 6 - Three Mizoram towns have bagged awards in the national cleanliness competition, Swachh Survekshan, for this year.
Among small cities, Champhai town in eastern Mizoram near the Myanmar border, bagged the cleanest city award while Lunglei town in southern Mizoram received the �Best City in Innovation and Best Practices� award. Vairengte town in northern Mizoram bagged the �Best City in Solid Waste Management� award.
The awards were received by Mizoram representatives at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, during a special ceremony on Wednesday. The Swachh Survekshan was launched by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2016.
The Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) is one of the major programmes under the Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation department in Mizoram.
In the competition, the whole country was divided into five zones. Under each zone, the towns and cities were categorised on the basis of population. Most Mizoram towns are placed under the small population category.
As many as 4,237 cities participated in the Swachh Survekshan involving more than 40 crore people, which makes it the biggest cleanliness competition in the world. All the 23 towns in Mizoram took part in the competition. Mizoram�s capital Aizawl figured in the 43rd position among the 73 capitals. The State capital had bagged the fastest moving city award in 2017. Biate town received the �Best City in Innovations� award in 2018.
