Unity, spirit of 'Antyodaya' necessary to clean cities: Union Minister Khattar

Sonipat (Haryana), Sep 27 (PTI) Union Minister of Power, Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said Indian cities can be made clean and garbage-free only through unity and the spirit of 'Antyodaya'. While addressing a gathering at the launch of the Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ) Initiative at the IIT Education City campus here, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's launch of the "Swachh Bharat Mission" in 2014 carried forward Mahatma Gandhi's resolve.

He said the programme aims to foster collaboration between cities to improve urban sanitation.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, speaking on the occasion via video conference from Karnal, said Haryana will play a leading role in this initiative.

Five municipal corporations each from Sonipat and Karnal have been paired under the programme. The chief minister thanked Khattar for initiating this collaborative effort to make India's cities cleaner.

Khattar shared that under the SSJ initiative, 72 mentor cities and around 200 mentee cities have been paired.

This is the largest city-twinning framework in the field of urban waste management to date. Cities were selected based on the latest Swachh Survekshan survey, with high-performing cities designated as mentors and those requiring improvement as mentees, he said.

Pairings were made based on geographical proximity and performance gaps to ensure practical and relevant knowledge exchange, Khattar said.

During the national programme, all participating cities signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs), with municipal officers and political representatives present, marking the occasion as historic.

The Union minister highlighted the ministry's Super Swachh League (SSL), established to recognise consistent performers in Swachh Survekshan 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Top three cities in five population categories have been included in this league and will form the foundation of mentor cities, while mentee cities are drawn from lower-ranked states, ensuring a practical, peer-learning approach, he said. PTI CHS OZ OZ