Arunachal's Jairampur declared ‘Promising Swachh Shehar’ in national cleanliness survey

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Jairampur town in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district has been declared the “Promising Swachh Shehar of Arunachal Pradesh” in the national Swachh Survekshan Awards, marking a proud moment for the state’s urban development efforts under the Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban (SBM-U).

The award was presented by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal during a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on Thursday, in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and other dignitaries.

State Urban Affairs Minister Balo Raja and Urban Affairs Commissioner Vivek Pandey received the award on behalf of the state, an official communiqué informed here.

The recognition is a testament to the relentless work of Jairampur’s urban local body, sanitation workers, and the active participation of its citizens.

Special mention was made of executive engineer (UD) George Joseph, for his leadership, and Hano Taka of the directorate of urban local bodies for providing crucial administrative and technical support.

Following the awards, a national meeting of urban development ministers was held at the same venue, where union and state ministers, vommissioners, and senior officials discussed urban priorities including garbage-free cities, water security, housing-service integration, and progress of SBM(U) and PMAY(U).

At the meeting, Raja urged the Centre to revise funding policies for hilly and Northeastern states.

He recommended lowering the population eligibility criteria to 5,000 for small towns and district headquarters, citing the exclusion of many deserving areas under current per capita-based models like SBM-U and AMRUT.

Highlighting that Arunachal Pradesh has over 80% forest cover, Raja emphasised the need for equitable urban development in frontier regions.

He called for a separate, flexible funding mechanism for the North-East and requested urgent financial assistance under the urban challenge fund to address pending proposals and urban reform needs.

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