Tamil Nadu grabs top spot in rural cleanliness in Swachh Bharat Survey 2019

This is a significant improvement compared with last year, when Tamil Nadu was at the 11th spot.

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Tamil Nadu bagged the top spot in the list of large states with the best rural cleanliness in the Annual Sanitation Survey conducted for 2019. This is a significant jump from the 11th spot it held in 2018.

According to a report in Times of India, Tamil Nadu earned the spot after pushing Haryana and Gujarat, which held the top two spots in 2018, to the second and the third places in the current year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the award for the best state in rural cleanliness to SP Velumani, Tamil Nadu minister for Municipal Administration at the Swachh Bharat awards event on Wednesday. After receiving the award, SP Velumani took to Twitter to express his happiness and to share the honour with the people of Tamil Nadu. “I'm absolutely overwhelmed to receive the best state award for rural cleanliness on behalf of the well mannered and civic sensed Tamil people. I am dedicating this award to all my fellow brethren back in my state who earned this prestigious award. #SwachhBharatMission," he tweeted.

The Swachhta survey this year was conducted in 17,200 villages and 690 districts across the country. The ranks were allotted based on feedback from the people, observation results by independent assessors etc.

Tamil Nadu also achieved the status of 100 Open Defecation Free (ODF) as per the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) website. As per the data in the website, over 53.46 lakh toilets have been built in the state after Prime Minister Modi announced Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014. In the financial year 2019-20, around 7500 toilets have been built so far.

The government of India, this year, received feedback from more than three crore citizens through the mobile app and more than 12 lakh calls were reportedly received as feedback for the survey. The surveyors had also visited places like anganwadis, schools, health facilities and temples to assess the condition of sanitation there, including availability of toilets and the surrounding cleanliness.

(With inputs from IANS)