In a proud moment for Nagpur district, Besa-Pipla Nagar Panchayat finished 2nd in Maharashtra and 13th rank in the country in Swachh Survekshan 2025-26. The top three performing city pairs under the ‘Swachh Shehar Jodi’ initiative, a flagship peer-learning programme under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) 2.0, were announced by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), on November 11. Besa-Pipla Nagar Panchayat secured the rank in Swachh Sheher Jodi (SSJ) category along with Panchgani city. Swachh Shehar Jodi was launched by the Union Minster Manohar Lal on September 27, 2025 as the first-ever urban waste management mentorship initiative involving 70 high-performing mentor cities and around 191 mentee cities from 33 States and Union Territories, based on Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 rankings. Under this initiative, out of 70 high-performing mentor and mentee cities, Besa-Pipla and Panchgani cities bagged the 13th rank.

 

Whereas, in this list, Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai and Kannad bagged the 12th rank in country and first rank in the State. In this list, out of 70 best performing Jodis, 10 pairs are from Maharashtra. Apart from Besa-Pipla Nagar Panchayat, Nagpur district’s Kandri-Kanhan Nagar Panchayat also features in the list with 46th rank along with Lonawala city. “It is a matter of pride that we are participating in this programme first time this year and got a rank at national-level as well as in the State. It encouraged us to do better in next year’s contest,” Bharat Nandanwar, Chief Officer, Besa-Pipla Nagar Panchayat told ‘The Hitavada’.

 

The SSJ initiative promotes the principle of ‘Each One - Teach One’ and is rooted in India’s timeless Guru–Shishya tradition, where knowledge, experience, and best practices are passed on from one city to another to collectively advance the journey towards urban excellence and cleanliness. “The experience of Panchgani city helped us to improve in all 10 categories in which the ranking was provided. We also followed the Indore model of cleanliness which also helped us to perform well,” said Nandanwar. An IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) team in urban cleanliness was formed by the Besa-Pipla Nagar Panchayat to shift public mindset, encourage civic responsibility, and promote sustainable waste management which helped a lot to involve residents in Swachh Survekshan, claimed the CO. Besa-Pipla Nagar Panchayat has total population of 1.21 lakh with 49,128 properties. The Nagar Panchayat imposed fines of Rs 25,000 for open burning and also imposed fines in property tax of those who burned garbage on open plots in their jurisdiction. It helped to curb open burning in the Nagar Panchayhat limits. Along with this, door to door sensitisation by IEC teams also helped to increase awareness among citizens, said Nandanwar.