AHMEDABAD: The Union ministry of urban development on Wednesday released the latest round of `Swachhta Sarvekshan' where two Gujarat cities — Ahmedabad and Rajkot — were ranked in top 10 slots. Ahmedabad ranked as sixth cleanest city among 4,237 cities and towns in the country, moving six notches up from 12th rank in 2018.Ahmedabad was also acknowledged by the Union ministry as the cleanest ‘big city’ among 50-odd mega cities with population above 10 lakh. “The litterbugs among Amdavadis have drastically come down, and I thank citizens for that. Our challenge now is to bring about a behavioural change in the 10% floating population in the city,” says municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra.Rajkot, adjudged as the ninth cleanest Indian city, has zoomed from rank 35 in 2018 to become the 9th cleanest city.Rajkot also won “three-star garbage free” status. Rajkot municipal commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani termed it a big achievement for the city.Diamond city Surat retained its position as the 14th cleanest city in the country. It had slipped to 14th in 2018 after being the fourth cleanest city in 2017. Surat won the first position for the best solid waste management system. Municipal commissioner M Thennarasan said , “Our efforts in managing solid waste have been recognized. We are encouraged to work harder and improve further.” The worst among the big cities in Gujarat was Vadodara, whose rank crashed from 10th in 2017 to 79 this year.Two towns won special awards as fastest movers. Upleta jumped 572 positions from 745 in 2018 to 173 this year. Visavadar jumped from 806 last year to 127 this year.

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