Indore gets cleanest city tag for third year in a row; Ambikapur, Mysuru among top rankers
New Delhi: Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for the third straight year in the central government's cleanliness survey announced on Wednesday.
The second and third positions in the category were grabbed by Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Mysuru in Karnataka. The Swachh Survekshan awards 2019 were conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony here.
While the New Delhi Municipal Council area was given the 'Cleanest Small City' award, Uttarakhand's Gauchar was adjudged the 'Best Ganga Town' in the central government survey.
The 'Cleanest Big City' award has been bagged by Ahmedabad, while Raipur is the 'Fastest Moving Big City'.
Ujjain has been the adjudged the 'Cleanest Medium City' and Mathura-Vrindavan bagged the tag of the 'Fastest Moving Medium Cities'.
Top-ranked cities received a statue of Mahatma Gandhi as a memento for their work towards cleanliness. Swachh Survekshan 2019 covered all urban local bodies in the country, making it the largest such cleanliness survey in the world.
"Mahatma Gandhi had played a pivotal role in spearheading the movement of cleanliness. I hope people will take inspiration from the just concluded Kumbh Mela and the level of cleanliness in it," Kovind said.
"There is a need to change the mindset of the people towards cleanliness as many people pay a lot of attention to personal hygiene and cleanliness at home but not to public cleanliness. The culture of cleanliness has to become an integral part of in the lives of the citizens," he added.
The President also said there is a need to include cleanliness in the curriculum of schools and higher educational institutions.
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the urban transformation that is being attempted in the country is the most omprehensive and ambitious framework of planned urbanisation.
"The fact that urban sanitation had never before been brought to the centre-stage spoke of the common perception that cleaning urban India was an impossible task. These states and cities have risen to that challenge," Puri said.
"To ensure that the momentum and efforts are sustained, we are actively considering the idea of continuing this initiative by having periodic rankings based on data being provided by cities and citizens' feedback," he added.
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NIA court to complete framing of charges against 2010 hand-chopping case accused on May 15
Kochi (PTI): A special court here will complete proceedings for framing charges against the prime accused in the 2010 hand-chopping case involving professor T J Joseph, in which PFI activists were accused of attacking him at Muvattupuzha.
Ernakulam Special Court for NIA cases judge P K Mohandas, on April 30, heard the arguments of counsel for accused Savad and Shafeer C and decided to proceed with framing charges against the duo.
A group chopped off Thodupuzha Newman College professor Joseph's right hand in July 2010, accusing him of religious blasphemy in a question paper he had prepared.
The case, later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), resulted in the conviction of 19 accused.
The first accused, Savad, who allegedly chopped off Joseph’s palm, was arrested in Berram in Mattannur, Kannur, in January 2024, where he had allegedly been hiding under the pseudonym Shajahan.
The NIA also arrested Shafeer, who allegedly arranged shelter and provided logistical support to Savad at Chakkad and Mattannur in Kannur since 2020.
On April 30, the court heard the counsel for the accused and the NIA prosecutor on framing charges against the duo.
"On going through the documents and evidence in the case and on hearing the counsel for the accused and the prosecutor, I am of the opinion that there are grounds for presuming that the first accused has committed offences punishable under provisions of the IPC, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and that the second accused has committed offences punishable under the IPC and the UAPA, and there are materials for framing charges under these provisions against the accused," the court said.
The court directed that Savad be produced and Shafeer, who is on bail, appear before it on May 15 for recording their pleas as part of the charge-framing process.
After framing the charges, the court will schedule the trial in the case.
