A devastating incident of water contamination in Indore's Bhagirathpura neighbourhood has cast a long shadow over the city's celebrated status as India's cleanest. Last week, 10 people died and scores fell ill, with health department data indicating over 200 are still hospitalised, after sewage seeped into the drinking water supply. This tragedy has forced a critical re-examination of what the prestigious 'cleanest city' tag truly represents.
Seven Years of Unbroken Swachh Dominance
Indore's journey to the pinnacle of India's cleanliness rankings is nothing short of remarkable. For seven consecutive years until 2023, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry's annual Swachh Survekshan declared Indore the cleanest city in the country. Its performance, along with other consistent top performers like Surat, was so dominant that the Ministry created a new 'Super Swachh League' category in 2024. This move was designed to give the other 4,000+ municipalities in the country a chance at the national top spot.
In the 2024-2025 assessment, Indore, along with Gujarat's Surat and Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai, once again emerged as the 'best among the best' in this exclusive league. With these cities out of the main national ranking, Ahmedabad secured the cleanest city tag for that period. Indore's expertise was even formally recognised in September 2025 when, under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, it signed an MoU to guide the city of Depalpur in Madhya Pradesh to improve its cleanliness ranking.
The Mechanics of a Cleanliness Champion
Indore's first top rank in 2017 was built on stellar performance across key parameters. The Swachh Survekshan that year evaluated cities on municipal documentation (45% weightage), independent observation, and citizen feedback. Indore excelled, scoring 875 out of 900 in municipal documentation, which assessed door-to-door waste collection, processing, ODF status, and public toilets. While Bhopal scored higher in independent observation, Indore's strong citizen feedback score of 496 secured its overall victory.
The city maintained its numero uno position from 2017 to 2022, sharing the title with Surat in 2023. Over the years, the survey evolved to include parameters like plastic waste management and disabled-friendly toilets. By 2023, Indore boasted 100% door-to-door waste collection, remediated dumpsites, and clean public spaces. Crucially, it had also received the 'Water+' certification, meaning no untreated wastewater was discharged into the environment—a significant upgrade from the basic ODF status.
A Rude Wake-Up Call and the Limits of Rankings
The Bhagirathpura tragedy has served as a stark reality check. Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO of the urban-focused non-profit Janaagraha, called it a "rude wake-up call." He pointed out that while Indore's citizens rightly took pride in the Swachh ranking, the survey only measures select indicators of sanitation and is not a holistic assessment of a city's overall civic health.
"The Swachh Survekshan is not a ranking of the city as a whole but only of select indicators of sanitation," Viswanathan stated. He highlighted a critical gap: the quality of water supply is not assessed under the Swachh Survekshan framework. Although a 'Pey Jal Survekshan' (drinking water survey) was conducted in 2023 under the AMRUT scheme, at a cost of Rs 16 crore, its findings were never publicly released, only communicated to states.
Viswanathan advocated for a more comprehensive and localised system of performance measurement. "What is needed is performance measurement and data transparency at the street, ward and city level across all infrastructure and services," he emphasised, calling for stronger municipal acts to enforce such transparency.
The incident in Indore underscores a pressing need to look beyond awards and rankings. It highlights the vital importance of robust, invisible infrastructure—like segregated water and sewage lines—and continuous, ground-level monitoring to ensure that the title of 'cleanest city' translates into safe and healthy living for every resident.
