NEW DELHI: Govt on Tuesday launched PRAGATI-50, an initiative to make 50 cities across 24 states and UTs completely clean, with the selected cities set to emerge as role models for the rest of the country. The list includes almost all state capitals, as well as major tourist and pilgrimage destinations.The initiative covers 76 municipal areas, including all municipal areas in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata and Hyderabad.The housing and urban affairs ministry rolled out the programme following PM Narendra Modi throwing a challenge to the ministry to make 50 cities cleaner while chairing the monthly PRAGATI meeting on May 27, which TOI had first reported. Seeking collaboration of all states to achieve this, PM has sought achieving 100% cleanliness in such cities in all aspects, from making them garbage free to processing all their solid and liquid waste. He had made these observations while going through a detailed presentation on progress of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0.The list of identified cities include, Tirupati, Gaya, Patna, Bilaspur, Ahmedabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Dharamsala, Srinagar, Ranchi, Mysore, Nashik, Puri, Ludhiana, Udaipur, Coimbatore, Warangal, Ayodhya, Mathura, Varanasi, Haridwar and Kolkata.Launching the initiative, minister Manohar Lal said that these will emerge as role-model cities by going beyond their routine sanitation work to “demonstrate sustained, high-performance parameters of visible cleanliness”. He added that they have ensured inclusion of major cities, cities of cultural importance, high tourism destinations and economic centres.“The initiative aims to drive visible improvements in urban cleanliness, solid waste management, used water management, sanitation, and citizen participation through a structured framework of monitoring and review within a defined timeframe. Progress will be continuously reviewed through outcome‑based assessments and tech‑enabled monitoring. I will personally chair review meetings every other month to track the advancement of these cities,” the minister said.
