‘Swachh Dasara’ fades as garbage piles up across city

Mysuru: The grandeur of Dasara may have faded, but the aftermath it has left behind continues to stink — literally. Streets across Mysuru city remain littered with waste, exposing the city’s recurring struggle to stay clean once the festivities end.

From flower garlands and banana stems to food leftovers, plastic cups, bags, baskets and thermocol pieces, the piles of waste speak of civic indifference and public apathy alike.

Despite Mysuru City Corporation’s (MCC) ‘Swachh Dasara’ drive aimed at making the city a model for sustainable celebration, residents say the reality on the ground tells a different story. Indiscriminate dumping continues unabated along roads, lanes, and bylanes across the city.

This year’s festival brought truckloads of flowers, banana stems and pumpkins to markets and neighbourhood makeshift markets. But what could not be sold was simply dumped — now rotting and emanating a foul stench.

While MCC poured significant effort into maintaining cleanliness during the 11-day festival — collecting an estimated 1,000 tonnes of waste across venues like the Dasara Exhibition, Flower Show and Aahara Mela — large portions of the city remain uncleared even days after the festivities concluded.

Garbage heaps can still be seen along Vinobha Road, Seetha Vilasa Road — Cheluvamba Agrahara, Sayyaji Rao Road, M.G. Road Market, near Neelakanta Swamy Mutt, Manasi Nagar on the Outer Ring Road, where a UGD line has broken, Old Santhepet, the surroundings of Mysore Palace, near Jaganmohan Palace, Jodi Thenginamara Road, Bannimantap and Chamaraja Double Road, among many other commercial zones.

Plastic carry bags, cardboard scraps, broken glass, used tea cups and discarded packaging litter the roads, posing health and safety risks. Even residential layouts are littered with waste, and no effort has been made to clear them.

Residents fume over MCC inaction

“The Corporation officers were busy celebrating festivals while we were navigating through garbage heaps,” said a frustrated local. “This is supposed to be a clean city, but it’s turning into a garbage city.”

The MCC had deployed 500 additional sanitation workers during Dasara, in addition to the 1,675 regular pourakarmikas who handle daily waste collection. Officials said the increased manpower and machinery were necessary given the surge in visitors.

Information and awareness campaigns also urged citizens not to litter and to segregate waste. Yet, as residents point out, the problem has outlasted the festival itself.

City NGOs have called for cleanliness to be treated as a year-round civic responsibility, not just a seasonal campaign.

Environmental activists warn that Mysuru is fast turning into a “garbage hub” after every celebration, largely due to the absence of systematic waste segregation.

With residents’ patience running thin, all eyes are now on the MCC to act swiftly before post-Dasara negligence chokes the city’s reputation as one of India’s cleanest.

This Dasara, the crowds were manifold — far beyond our expectations. As a result, our focus had to remain on cleaning the festival venues. A huge volume of waste was generated, and we managed it with the existing staff. We are still engaged in post-Dasara office work, and I haven’t had time for routine city rounds in the past three days. The waste scattered across the city will be cleared within a day or two. We are handling cleaning and garbage clearance with our current workforce.”

— Shaikh Tanveer Asif, Commissioner, MCC