Gujarat Slum-Free City Initiative: Surat to become India's first slum-free city with over 70 lakh population

Key facts

• The Gujarat state government announced that Surat is poised to become India's first slum-free city with a population of over 70 lakh.
• In the past two decades, the population living in Surat's slum areas has decreased from 38% to 5%.
• Chief Minister (CM) Bhupendra Patel directed senior officials, including the Chief Secretary (CS), to take effective measures to make Surat the state's first slum-free city.
• Surat's population is approximately 70-80 lakh, making this achievement more significant in scale than Chandigarh, which has a population of around 10 lakh.
• The Chief Minister (CM) also directed officials to start taking measures to make other cities in Gujarat slum-free in phases.