Mysuru city was ranked India’s 3rd cleanest city in the overall national ranking with a 5-star rating in the Swachh Survekshan 2019, the results of which were announced in New Delhi on Wednesday.
While Indore in Madhya Pradesh was ranked the cleanest city in the country for the third consecutive time, Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh was ranked second cleanest city nationally out of 4,237 cities and towns that were surveyed this year.
Mysuru secured an overall score of 4,378.54 out of 5,000 marks and improved its position moving up by five notches this year. Though Mysuru was adjudged the ‘’cleanest city’’ among cities with a population between 3 lakh to 1 million in 2018, its overall national ranking had slid to 8th spot.
But this year the authorities made efforts to shore up the cleanliness level to move up the ladder to secure the 3rd rank. The city was accorded the 5th rank in the 2017 survey while it was adjudged the ‘cleanest city’ in the 2016 Swachh Survekshan exercise.
The survey report said Mysuru has put in place infrastructure to attain 100% door-to-door garbage collection in all its wards, besides 100% maintenance cost of solid waste management. The survey noted that all the public toilets and community toilets were visible on Google maps and maintenance standards of these came in for praise.
Responding to the developments, the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) health officer D.G. Nagaraju, who was in Delhi with the team to receive the awards, said over phone that the credit for Mysuru improving its position from 8th last year to 3rd at the national level, goes entirely to the citizens and the pourakarmikas, especially the latter who worked hard to keep the city clean.
While complimenting the team for the success, Dr. Nagaraju said there was still scope for improvement and the greatest challenge was to clear the legacy waste that has accumulated over the years and needs to be disposed of in a scientific manner.
Though the MCC had opted for a 7-star ranking among the garbage-free cities, no city in India qualified for it and had to be content with a 5-star rating. Incidentally, only three cities have qualified for 5-star rating among the garbage-free cities and the rest were accorded either 3 star or 2 and 1 star.
Among other urban local bodies in the State, Mangaluru was ranked 165, Bengaluru 194, and Tumakuru was ranked 231.