India, Sept. 27 -- Union housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday launched the Swachh Shehar Jodi (SSJ) programme under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U), describing it as a "non-ceremonial, outcome-driven initiative ensuring that no city is left behind in sanitation metrics".

The launch event in Sonipat witnessed the simultaneous signing of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) between mentor and mentee cities nationwide. As of Saturday, 21 states and 57 mentor cities have joined to guide a total of 163 mentee cities.

Among the pairings, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh will guide Chintalapudi, Akiveedu, and Narasapur, while in Gujarat, Ahmedabad mentors Sanand and Wankaner, and Surat supports Mandvi a...