Among the 131 cities in the country, Surat is the cleanest city in Gujarat.

Surat is the cleanest city in Gujarat: The city of Surat, which was ranked 13th last year as the cleanest city in the country, has got a big success this time. Surat has overtaken 131 cities in the country to achieve the first position in the Swachh Vayu Survey 2024. Diamond City has scored 194 marks out of a total of 200 marks.

Diamond City made a big leap this year

Surat has managed to significantly reduce the pm10 ratio of 2023-24 by 12.71 per cent. In the survey conducted last year, Surat was ranked 13th and Indore came first. In 2023, Surat is said to have come up with a lack of facilities, some measures and redressal of errors.

In recognition of this achievement, a prize money of Rs 1.5 crore, trophy and certificate will be given by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change along with the honor of The National Clean Air City at a planned ceremony under the National Mission for Clean Air Program in Jaipur on September 7.

The Clean Air Survey initiative was launched by the Central Government to evaluate the efforts of non-containment cities to improve air quality in India's cities and with the goal of reducing air content by 30 per cent.

Cities are evaluated mainly on the basis of eight factors. These include solid waste management, road dust, dust generated from construction and demolition waste, vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, public awareness programmes and improvement in air quality.

The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) had formulated several projects worth Rs 5,000 crore to improve air quality in a span of five years, including removing 4,200 metric tonnes of dust on roads annually through mechanical sweepers, using 35 per cent e-vehicles for door-to-door garbage collection in all households to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 7,000 metric tonnes annually.

In collaboration with the World Resources Institute, 280 operational projects have been undertaken to reduce the use of natural resources by following clean construction guidelines and management of construction and demolition waste. There are 580 e-buses operated in public transport.