Mysuru: Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has intensified its efforts to retain the Super Swachh League (SSL) position in the Swachh Survekshan survey for clean city rankings this year.Last year, Mysuru made it to SSL, a newly introduced category under the survey conducted by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs. Chandigarh and Noida were the other 2 major cities that made it to the league.
The Union govt included Mysuru under the SSL category for cities that demonstrated top performances in the previous surveys, but this year, the civic body is making efforts to get a seven-star clean city ranking.Last year, the MCC was awarded a five-star status for aspects including city’s beautification, maintenance of parks and cleanliness around major junctions. This year it is focusing on waste segregation and public engagement initiatives. MCC was also chosen to mentor Raichur city corporation and Maski town panchayat in solid waste management by the Union govt. In the previous year’s rankings, Mysuru was ranked as the cleanest city in 2015 and 2016 but slipped to 5th place in 2017 and 8th place in 2018. However, it jumped to the 3rd spot in 2019, only to slide to 5th place in 2020, 11th in 2021, 8th in 2022, and 27th in 2023.Over 3,000 cities with a population of three to 10 lakhs, will be competing this year. Mysuru must secure at least 10,700 points against a total of 12,500, in different categories of waste management to bag the award.The ministry fixed 1,000 points for aspects such as garbage and open defecation-free status, 500 points for correct data uploading, and 1,500 points for effective disposal of construction debris, with a scientific disposal mechanism set up. The remaining 9,500 points are reserved for beautification, clearance of legacy waste, segregation of dry and wet waste, underground drainage clearance waste, feedback from public, waste processing and facilities, and other cleanliness initiatives, including providing safety equipments to the pourakarmikas.For effective feedback from the public and the awareness drives, MCC has been conducting workshops, including training the officers and pourakarmikas, a marathon, and quiz events. It has also planned a cyclothon and public awareness rallies in educational institutions.The central team is expected to arrive between mid-Feb and the first week of March to conduct field assessment for the survey. MCC Swachh Bharat Mission nodal officer KS Mrutyunjaya said, “This year the city civic body was equipped with all preparations to welcome the central team for the survey, including the clearance of legacy waste in Vidyaranyapuram and the construction debris plant near Sathgalli. Results will be announced in May.“Speaking to TOI, MCC commissioner Shaik Tanveer Asif said, “MCC has been making its best efforts to retain its SSL position, and is aiming for a seven-star status in the survey.”
