‘Let’s do it Mysuru’ campaign runs strong

MYSURU: ‘Let’s do it Mysuru’, an initiative launched to keep this tourist destination spick and span about seven years ago, has only gotten stronger with the addition of awareness and education programmes that target youth.
The brainchild of BS Prashanth, president, Karnataka Forum for Tourism, the initiative was launched in December 2012. As the frontrunner of the hospitality industry, Prashanth initially focused on ensuring tourist spots in and around Mysuru were clean so that visitors could take back happy memories with them. Initially, the focus was on Mysuru Palace, Chamundi Hills and Mysuru Zoo — tourists spots that attracted millions of visitors every year.
“After the Swachh Bharath mission was launched, we intensified our initiative, but it didn’t go down well as people thought we were an alternative to civic workers,” explained Prashanth. “Still, we redoubled our efforts, but it had no impact on visitors as they continued to dirty tourist areas. This is when we hit on the idea of educating young minds.”
Prashanth revealed more than a hundred clean-up drives have been accomplished under the ‘Let’s do it Mysuru’ campaign. “We have separate teams and we own equipment to handle cleanliness drives,” Prashanth said. He went on to say, “Our volunteers are from different walks of life. Bags of trash were collected from these places and were handed over to garbage collectors attached to Mysuru City Corporation.”