Mysuru:  The Swachh Survekshan 2019 results announced by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs yesterday put Mysuru in the third position, far better than the last year’s eighth Cleanest City in India. Bengaluru is in 194th rank, a tad better than its 216th position in 2018.

In fact, Mysuru is among only three cities which qualified for a 5-star rating under a new garbage-free certification protocol introduced under Swachh Survekshan 2019. The other cities are Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh. The rating is for one year. Though 4,237 urban local bodies were surveyed, none qualified for highest 7-star rating.

Mysuru secured an overall score of 4,379 out of 5,000 marks and fell a meagre 15 points short of Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh which stood second in the national rankings. Indore which was certified as India’s cleanest city secured 4,659 marks followed by Ambikapur which secured 4,394 marks.

The survey report said Mysuru has put in place infrastructure to attain 100 percent door-to-door garbage collection in all its wards, besides 100 percent maintenance cost of solid waste management.

Officials and Corporators attributed Mysuru’s performance to its 2,100 Pourakarmikas. Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath said that Pourakarmikas had worked relentlessly to keep the city clean. She said that she would visit Indore, the city adjudged the cleanest for the third consecutive time, and study the practices in place in that city.

MCC Commissioner Shilpa Nag said that the credit for Mysuru securing third place in national ranking should go to her predecessor at MCC, K.H. Jagadeesha for his various initiatives. Even MCC Health Officer and Swachh Survekshan Nodal Officer Dr. D.N. Nagaraj played an equally crucial role in ensuring the Heritage City finished in the top three this year, she added.

Zonal toppers

In the zonal-level ranking, Periyapatna was ranked the cleanest town/city in the category of ULBs with a population below 1 lakh (as per 2011 census) and Krishnarajanagar (K.R. Nagar) was ranked 3rd. Among the best ULBs with a population between 50,000 and 100,000, Hunsur was ranked best city in solid waste management for the south zone. T. Narsipur was adjudged the cleanest ULB/ city in the south zone with a population below 25,000.