83% of people who took part in a survey said their areas are cleaner after the Swachh Bharat campaign.
A public survey on the Swachh Bharat campaign, conducted by the Urban Development ministry, claims that the cleanliness initiative by the government has been successful. Urban Development Minister Venkiah Naidu released feedback statistics from the survey.
Over 83% of the participants reported that their areas are much cleaner as compared to last year.
"18 lakh sample survey reveals cities becoming much cleaner in the last one year. Field inspection of 17,500 locations confirm Swachh Bharat is making a difference on ground," Mr Naidu told reporters in Bengaluru.
Among other findings of the survey, 82% of people reported improvement in sanitation infrastructure and services like increased availability of litter bins and door-to-door collection of solid waste. 75% residential areas in the cities and towns surveyed were found to be substantially clean.
A set of six questions were asked to residents in 404 towns and cities. They were asked if they were aware of Swachh Survekshan-2017. Among other questions, participants were also asked if the maintenance of community and public toilets have improved.
The survey found that surroundings of railway station in 185 cities were found to be clean.
At Bengaluru's Cantonment Railway Station, Harish Kumar said, "See, now things are quite better compared to earlier. People are much (more) concerned about Swacch Bharat."
Another person at the station, Rahul, said, "I don't see much betterment in the railway stations...but maybe those are the railway stations that I have been to."
Last year, Mysuru in Karnataka was declared the cleanest city on the Swachh Bharat criteria of solid waste management and stopping open defecation. This year's cleanliness rankings of cities will be released on Thursday.
Garbage collection and disposal remains a challenge in most cities in the country and open defecation is still very common. In Karnataka, only the town of Mysuru, Mangaluru and Udupi have been declared open defecation free.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, a pet project of PM Narendra Modi, was launched in 2014 to clean up the country's streets and roads, and improve sanitation and public health.