Mysuru: The whole of Mysuru is sulking because it has lost the cleanest city top tag in the country in the Swachh Survekshan 2017. Some people are taking vicarious pleasure because of the city slipping into the fifth place while a few are relieved that it did not score a hat-trick as the city fathers and the bureaucrats would have become more complacent if the top spot was retained.

The post-mortem has begun in right earnest with the Mayor M.J. Ravikumar and Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner G. Jagadeesha, who were waiting with bated breath for the announcement of the result in Delhi where they had gone as invitees to receive the top award in anticipation. However, their expectations were belied and they had to be contended with the fifth place.

The reasons for the slide being touted now by Ravikumar is that the MCC failed to complete 406 individual toilets on time, which resulted in loss of precious marks. The Commissioner regretted that the ranking would have been better if the citizens’ feedback had been good.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, former Corporation Commissioner Dr. C.G. Betsurmath rightly pointed out that bagging the 5th place is itself no mean achievement and every Mysurean should be proud of this result.

The officials of Indore and Bhopal (which have bagged the first and second place) had come to Mysuru and studied the measures taken by the MCC regarding keeping the city clean. Hence, it clearly shows that Mysuru is a role model that is being followed by other cities in the country, he stated.

We have to introspect where the city is lagging and which are the areas where we scored less marks and set those issues  right in the coming days, suggested Dr. Betsurmath during whose time as the Corporation Commissioner, the city had bagged the top place consecutively for two years.

Former Mayor R. Lingappa said that when he was the Mayor and Dr. Betsurmath the Commissioner, the city had bagged the cleanest city ranking. However, we need not lose heart and if we once again work hard, we can regain the top spot.

Mysore Grahakara Parishat Executive Committee member Venkatesh Kharidi said that to regain the top position, it is important that both the citizens and the MCC should join hands. He suggested that Swachhata app should be used daily, litter- free Mysuru should be created, the usage of plastic must be completely stopped, dustbins must be placed at all historic sites, waste segregation must be made mandatory and solid waste management should be improved.

Swachh Bharat Cess

The Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC) came into effect from November, 15, 2015. The SBC at the rate of 0.5 per cent is levied on all taxable services. The proceeds of the SBC will be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India and the Centre will give this money for promoting Swachh Bharat initiatives. The question that is nagging everyone is what is really happening to the money collected as cess as most of the Indian cities are still dirty covered with garbage, Bengaluru being the prime example.