Mysuru: “Mysuru city bagging the third place in cleanliness is a matter of pride. More stress would be given to cleanliness in the coming days to bag the first place,” said Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath.
Addressing a press conference at the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) premises here yesterday, she said that the Cleanest City awards are being given from 2014-15 and Mysuru bagged the Cleanest City tag for two consecutive years and dropped to the fifth place in 2016-17 and eighth place in 2017-18. But now, with the efforts of everyone, the City has bagged the third place, she added besides stating that everyone would work hard to clinch the first place next year.
Continuing, the Mayor said that a total of 4,237 cities participated in the 2019-20 Swachh Survekshan and added that various organisations conducted survey in various stages and based on their reports, Mysuru city bagged the third Cleanest City in India award.
Mysuru City, in the Open Defecation-Free survey has bagged ODF Plus and has been given Five Stars in Garbage-Free City survey. Indore, which has bagged the first place, has got 4,659 points, Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh which bagged the second place has secured 4,394 points and Mysuru which got 4,379 points has come third, Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath said.
Stating that less marks was scored in Community Partnership and Documentation, the Mayor said that the cities which bagged the first and second places have secured ODF Double Plus while Mysuru City has bagged Single Plus because of the huge garbage piled up at the Sewage Farm. Tender would be called soon to clear the garbage there so that we would be able to score more points during the next survey, she added.
The Mayor thanked the Pourakarmikas, Corporators, officials, staff, Swachhata Abhiyan Ambassadors Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, Cricketer Javagal Srinath, Yoga exponent H. Kushi, Swami Athmajnanandaji of Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Master Eshan Chethan, Rifa Taskin, religious heads, various organisations and the public for their active involvement which helped the city clinch the third place. It has been decided to send a delegation to Indore, which bagged the first place, she added. Deputy Mayor Shafi Ahmed, Finance Standing Committee Chairperson Shobha, Ruling Party leader Prema Shankaregowda, Opposition party leader B.V. Manjunath, MCC Commissioner Shilpa Nag, Swachh Survekshan Nodal Officer Dr. D.N. Nagaraj and others were present.
Pourakarmikas felicitated
Following Mysuru city bagging the third Cleanest City in India award, Corporator Prameela felicitated 25 Pourakarmikas of Ward No. 23, which she represents, at a function held at Freedom Fighters Bhavan in Subbarayanakere here yesterday morning.
Speaking on the occasion, she said that Mysuru which was placed in the eighth position last year has bagged the third place this year because of the efforts of the Pourakarmikas who worked day and night and hence they were felicitated.
BJP Ward 23 President Pramod, who also spoke said that each morning, the Pourakarmikas begin their work to keep our city clean and called upon the residents not to throw garbage indiscriminately and co-operate with the Pourakarmikas so that the city could bag the first place next year.
Ward 23 BJP unit General Secretary Surendra, Harsha and others were present.
Our city getting third place should motivate us to do even better. In fact we should compete not against Indore, but against the best in the world. Bench mark of Indore is too low. Why not compete with Singapore which is often given as a poster boy for development by our political leaders.
I am glad that MCC decided to congratulate all those who were involved in keeping our city clean. Let us start preparing for the next year’s contest from today itself.
Our main focus is on cleaning, which we can’t achieve to a satisfactory level unless we stop wastes being dumped at undesignated places. It is always better to work on the root cause and fix the same, rest of the job becomes seamless. The City Administration should spend more time on educating and disciplining people. The road-side vendors are not disciplined for the mess they create around their place of business and also there is no proper facility to dispose their wastes. Same applies to some shop-keepers, who use some corners of the street for dumping their wastes. Many house owners dispose their garbage on any open space if they miss the door-to-door collection. The list goes on.