Lucknow, Dec 4 : Lucknow has been declared the 'No.1 city' in the national ranking of 'Clean Air Survey', and received a reward of Rs 1.50 crore along with a citation. Lucknow secured the No.1 position in the National Clean Air City Category. Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia and municipal commissioner Indrajeet Singh received the award in Bhubaneshwar from the minister of state for environment and forests Ashwani Kumar Choubey and director general environment, Chandra Prakash Goyal, on Saturday. Mayor Bhatia said, "Efforts were being made to improve the environment in Lucknow for the last five years. In order to improve the air quality, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) had installed artificial lungs in front of its headquarters in Lalbagh so that the air quality could be checked. LMC purchased nine road-sweeping machines, eight anti-smoke guns, and 40 water-sprinkling machines from the 15th Finance Commission for air quality improvement." Lakhs of saplings were planted in the Atal Uday Van and lakhs other were also planted at places by constructing many gardens. Beautification and greenery of more than 1,500 parks was also done in the last five years. Apart from this, the most important work done by the LMC in air quality was the construction of Air Quality Monitoring Stations at different places of the city due to which Air Quality Index (AQI) is being monitored round the clock, which is connected to the control room of Smart City. Along with this, in order to improve the falling AQI, the LMC has installed air purifiers at 22 places in the city at a cost of Rs 20 crore, which are continuously improving the air quality. Bhatia said, "Providing cleanliness and taking care of the health of the residents of Lucknow has been my first priority. I had promised the residents to make Lucknow the No. 1 city. Today in the Clean Air Survey 2022, Lucknow has become the No. 1 city in the country, and I have succeeded in fulfilling the promise made to the public. With this ranking, the 'Ease of Living Standard' of Lucknowites will rise and I will try to improve further." /IANS