Context:

• Raigarh Municipal Corporation of Chhattisgarh has won the “Swachhata Excellence awards 2019”.
• The municipal corporations of Ambikapur of Chhattisgarh and Kumbakonam of Tamil Nadu have bagged the second and third prizes respectively.
• All of these are AMRUT cities. A total of 40 awards were distributed to the Area Level Federations (ALFs), City Livelihoods Federations (CLFs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). These Awards were given by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) as part of the Shehri Samriddhi Utsav.

Winners:

• Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has been awarded the first prize for the Million Plus Cities.
• Nagar Palika Parishad of Jashpur Nagar (Chhattisgarh), Malappuram Municipality (Kerala) and Nagar Palika Parishad Surajpur (Chhattisgarh) claimed the prizes in the “Statutory Towns” category.
• From Aspirational Districts, Chas Municipal Corporation (Bokaro district of Jharkhand) has been awarded a consolation prize.

Swachhata Excellence Awards:

• Swachhata Excellence Awards were instituted by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2017, to encourage Area Level Federations (ALFs) of SHGs formed under DAY-NULM, for their initiatives to make their communities Swachh and help their cities achieve the outcomes of Swachha Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM-U).
• The City Swachhata Livelihoods Awards for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) was introduced this year for the ULBs for creating an enabling environment for dignied livelihoods in the sanitation sector.