The Kozhikode Corporation and Payyoli municipality have made impressive gains in the Swachh Survekshan 2024 rankings released on Thursday (July 17, 2025). The Corporation rose from 3,367 in 2023 to 70 this year, while Payyoli jumped from 3,707 to 596. Payyoli was also listed among the 20 cities awarded ‘one star’ in the ‘Garbage Free Cities’ category.
“It is not about what we did this year to improve the ranking, but about what we did not do in the previous years,” said S. Jayasree, health standing committee chairperson of the Corporation, who stressed that proper documentation and timely entries under the guidance of the Suchitwa Mission made all the difference this time.
“We have been doing our work well over the past few years, and the results were evident. However, we never gave much importance to the Swachh Survekshan Survey, and as a result, failed to present our achievements effectively during the inspections. All that changed this year,” she added.
Payyoli municipal chairman V.K. Abdurahman believed that sustained efforts to maintain cleanliness in the town over the past few years had now paid off. “We worked diligently to achieve the best possible results under the State government’s ‘Malinya Muktha Navakeralam’ project,” he said.
The municipality houses a material recovery facility (MCF) considered a model for the entire State, in addition to having a mini MCF in every division. Funds have already been earmarked for setting up more MCFs wherever needed. “Installing awareness boards in public spaces, conducting awareness drives through mural paintings, and placing CCTV cameras at locations prone to illegal dumping helped us meet the target,” Mr. Abdurahman added.
The intervention of the Suchitwa Mission in preparing local bodies for the survey has yielded results across the State, evident from the number of local bodies, including major cities, that have made significant leaps in the rankings. This is the first time any urban civic body in Kerala has come within the top 1,000 ranks since the survey began in 2016.
Published – July 19, 2025 01:03 am IST
