How Surat Turned Sewage Into Rs 500 Crore & Became One of India’s Cleanest Cities

4 September 2025

Once plagued by garbage and disease, Surat now uses tech and teamwork to stay spotless. Its transformation began after a deadly plague in 1994.

Today, not one open drain scars the city. CCTV cameras track littering. Control room staff issue fines within minutes.

Every garbage truck has GPS. If it misses a house, the system flags it, and penalties follow.

The nerve centre is a sleek command room with a 1,000 sq ft digital wall—Surat’s brain for cleanliness, buses, drainage, even emergencies.

The system gets one lakh citizen complaints a year. Logged, tracked, and analysed to prepare for the future.

Surat didn’t wait for Swachh Bharat. Door-to-door collection began in 2004, a decade early.

It’s not just clean — it’s smart. The city sells 115 million litres of treated sewage daily to industries, earning Rs 140 crore a year.

Plastic waste becomes textiles. Construction debris turns into paver blocks. Wet waste becomes biogas and compost.

The city converted an old 37-hectare landfill into a garden—just before hosting the world’s largest diamond bourse.

Behind it all is community effort. Citizens log complaints, run cleanup drives, and use the SMC app to report garbage.

The challenge?  Getting 75 lakh people to feel like the city is theirs.

But with world-class infrastructure, strong systems, and growing awareness— Surat is proving that a clean city isn’t just a goal. It’s a habit.