Cities in spotlight

Not surprisingly, municipalities in India’s largest metropolises have fared poorly in the Swacch Survekshan rankings announced this week with Hyderabad at 23 out of 47 surveyed cities with a population over 1 million, Greater Mumbai at 35, Bengaluru at 37 and Chennai at 45. West Bengal did not participate in the survey and residents of the state can only speculate if things have improved since 2018 when 19 of the 25 dirtiest cities were reported to be in the state