Shillong has been awarded the ‘Promising Swachh Shehar’ Award under the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25, a nationwide cleanliness survey conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
The award recognizes the city’s efforts in improving sanitation, waste management and citizen participation and is awarded to the top-performing cities from each state as Promising Swachh Shehars, with a total of 34 cities earning this distinction.
The Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Awards Ceremony was held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, where the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, conferred awards to 23 Super Swachh League Cities.
The ceremony was attended by Union Minister Manohar Lal and Minister of State (MoS) MoHUA, Tokhan Sahu.
The President of India complimented the Ministry for promoting the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (3R) approach and commended the waste-to-wealth memento presented to her.
She highlighted the role of swachhata in empowering youth, generating green jobs, and creating entrepreneurial opportunities.
Other notable awardees included Prayagraj, which received the Best Ganga Town award, and Secunderabad Cantonment, which was honored as the Best Cantonment Board for its exemplary sanitation efforts.
The survey aimed to promote healthy competition among cities and encourage them to improve their sanitation and cleanliness standards.
The Union Minister launched the Swachh City Partnership initiative, which aims to promote peer learning among cities.
Under this initiative, 78 top-performing cities will adopt and mentor one poorly performing city each from their respective states. The minister also announced the Accelerated Dumpsite Remediation program, which will help fast-track legacy waste remediation and unlock massive urban space.
