Bhubaneswar, Feb. 12: The state capital has added one more feather to its crown - the Union urban development ministry has adjudged it as one of the cleanest cities in the country.

The honour, which will be made official by Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu at an event in New Delhi on Monday, comes close on the heels of Bhubaneswar topping the list in the race to become a smart city.

On behalf of the ministry of urban development, Quality Council of India (QCI) had carried out a sanitation survey Swachh Sarvekshan from January 1 to January 20. The survey was conducted in 75 cities across the nation and Bhubaneswar has emerged as one of the winners of the clean city title.

To emerge among the winners, the state capital had to get past competitors such as Mysore, Bangalore, Chennai, Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Hyderabad, Pune and Visakhapatnam. Cuttack was the other Odisha city that took part in the sanitation challenge.

It was mayor Ananta Narayan Jena who today broke the news about the city making it to the winner's list.

In an official invitation to Jena, joint secretary, ministry of urban development, and director of Swachh Bharat Mission Praveen Prakash writes: "I am delighted to inform you that your city has been selected as one of the winners to be felicitated during an event in New Delhi on February 15."

The Swachh Sarvekshan survey evaluated the city's sanitation scenario on the basis of components such as strategy for open defecation free town, integrated solid waste management, information, education and behaviour change communication activities, sweeping, door-to-door collection and transportation of solid waste, processing and disposal of waste, provision of public and community toilets and construction of household individual toilets.

"This is another proud moment for the citizens of Bhubaneswar. Everyone is the winner. All have a stake in this award. We have ensured all provision to make the city clean. The citizen participation remained commendable. Our ground level officials have also worked harder and here comes the result. We were smart, now we are the cleanest also," said Jena.

Citizen participation also remained a crucial aspect of the survey. According to QCI officials, they have taken inputs from more than 2 crore citizens from the 75 cities. It reflected their opinion on the sanitation facilities available in their respective cities.

"Bhubaneswar is improving in all parameters. It was a surprise for us when Bhubaneswar came first in the smart city contest. This has instilled more hope in us about the city's ability. Now, achieving a good rank in the sanitation challenge comes as a bonus," said Chitrangada Maharana, a Bhimatangi resident.

Bhubaneswar's prize-winning rank this year has been a big leap as it had fared poorly in a similar survey conducted last year.

In the first-ever sanitation survey that the Union ministry of urban development had conducted last year as part of its Swachh Bharat Mission, Bhubaneswar was placed at 331 and Mysore had topped the chart. It was a fairly poor show as 476 cities had been surveyed last year.

The most interesting aspect of last year's result is that Cuttack, which struggles to keep itself clean with its ancient urban designs, fared better with a rank of 296. Also Puri, which is known for its poor waste management and disposal systems, had also ranked above the capital city at 298.