Shillong, the scenic capital of Meghalaya, has clinched a significant recognition, being named a ‘Promising Swachh Shehar of State/UT’ at the prestigious Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Awards ceremony. This accolade underscores the city’s earnest endeavours in sanitation and waste management, marking a notable milestone for the northeastern urban centre.
The esteemed award was presented by President Droupadi Murmu herself at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, during a grand ceremony that celebrated the dedication of 43 cities and organisations nationwide towards fostering urban cleanliness.
Shillong stood out among 34 cities from various states and union territories, earning the ‘Promising Swachh Shehar’ distinction. This recognition was based on the tangible improvements demonstrated by the city in its sanitation infrastructure, waste management practices, and, importantly, the enthusiastic participation of its citizens. The selection adhered to the ‘One City, One Award’ principle, ensuring that the top-performing city from each state received due honour.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs orchestrated the awards ceremony, which saw the presence of Union Minister Manohar Lal and Minister of State Tokhan Sahu, alongside dignitaries and representatives from the winning cities across the country.
A noteworthy aspect of this year’s Swachh Survekshan was the introduction of a simplified framework, specifically tailored to enable smaller cities to vie effectively with their larger urban counterparts. This refined assessment criteria, as highlighted by officials, successfully created a “level playing ground,” allowing cities like Shillong to prominently showcase their cleanliness initiatives and progress.
The survey moved beyond conventional population-based categorisation, instead focusing on recognizing cities for their demonstrable strides in urban cleanliness and sanitation excellence, putting emphasis on consistent improvement and innovative approaches.
During her address, President Murmu laid stress on the foundational ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ approach, articulating that “waste is best is the mantra and it gives strength to circularity in economy.” She further elaborated on how waste management initiatives are not just about cleanliness but are actively generating green jobs and nurturing entrepreneurial avenues, particularly benefiting self-help groups at the grassroots level.
The President specially commended cities with populations under 100,000 for establishing commendable cleanliness benchmarks and lauded various initiatives, including school interventions, innovative source segregation startups, and the emergence of zero-waste colonies, all contributing significantly to strengthening the Swachh Bharat mission.
While Shillong celebrated its achievement in the promising category, the overall top three cleanest cities in the nation were Ahmedabad, Bhopal, and Lucknow. Other notable honours included Prayagraj being named the Best Ganga Town, and Secunderabad Cantonment receiving recognition as the Best Cantonment Board.
The ceremony also featured a special acknowledgment for Uttar Pradesh’s exemplary waste management strategies implemented during the Mahakumbh festival, an event that drew an astonishing estimated 660 million visitors, showcasing large-scale cleanliness efforts.
Looking ahead, Union Minister Manohar Lal announced the ‘Swachh City Partnership’ initiative, a collaborative endeavour where 78 top-performing cities will adopt and mentor one lesser-performing city each from their respective states. Furthermore, the ‘Accelerated Dumpsite Remediation’ program is set to kick off on August 15, 2025, with a dedicated focus on fast-tracking the remediation of legacy waste dumpsites.
To ensure transparency and accessibility of information, the ministry digitally launched the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 Results Dashboard during the ceremony, offering an interactive platform for citizens and stakeholders to view rankings and achievements from the nationwide cleanliness assessment.
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