Bhubaneswar readies for Swachh Survekshan with focus on citizen feedback

Bhubaneswar: The capital is gearing up to take part in the latest edition of Swachh Survekshan 2025-26, with the ministry of housing and urban affairs recently announcing launch of the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey.The city, which maintained a steady rank in previous surveys, is aiming for a better berth this time, with improved infrastructure and standardised cleanliness activities.Entering its tenth edition, the ministry has launched the survey centred on the theme ‘Swacchata Ki Nayi Pehel- Badhayein Haath, Karein Safai Saath’, ensuring that citizens’ voices on a city’s cleanliness are heard the most.During launch of the survey, the ministry emphasised that it has become pertinent to make the component more rigorous since the citizens’ voices have become a strong tool for assessment in Swachh Survekshan.Starting this edition, the ministry has enabled citizens to share their feedback throughout the year through multiple platforms rather than limiting it to a certain time period. The ministry has also increased the weightage for citizen validation considerably in this survey.“We are aware that citizens play a vital role not only in maintaining cleanliness but also in improving the rank of the city in Swachh Survekshan. Extensive drives will be launched to collect citizen feedback,” said city mayor Sulochana Das.She said the city has been consistently improving its infrastructure to ensure better solid waste management. “Mechanical sweeping has been standardised. We have also opened new waste processing facilities,” Das added.The ministry has also announced a new award category – Swachh Seher Jodi – a category to recognise peer learning and knowledge sharing held among urban local bodies in the respective cleanliness activities.Experts said Bhubaneswar is likely to perform well in this category since earlier this year, the city was tasked to act as a mentor for five Odisha ULBs — Bargarh, Kendrapada, Deogarh, Pattamundai and Joda — under the central govt’s Swachh Shehar Jodi initiative.“Being the state capital, Bhubaneswar has extensive expertise in solid waste management and through this, it has mentored smaller towns. This initiative is rightly recognised in the Swachh Survekshan,” said urban expert Dipu Nanda.The ministry said field assessments for Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 are expected to begin from mid-February to March 2026. The garbage-free cities and open defecation-free cities certification assessment will also commence from mid-February 2026.