Mysuru: Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is making all efforts and arrangements while it is gearing up for the Fourth Swachh Survekshan Survey to make a bid for the Cleanest City Tag in the country at least this time.

Having to be satisfied with the best ‘Cleanest Medium City’ award last year, after winning the ‘Cleanest City Award’ twice in 2015 and 2016, the MCC is making all efforts to see that it regains the top spot this time and not slip to the eighth spot like it did in 2017 and 2018.

The Survey which was to begin yesterday has not yet started as the Swachh Survekshan team which was to arrive in the city did not turn up. The objective of the survey is to encourage large-scale citizen participation, ensure sustainability of initiatives taken towards garbage-free and open defecation-free cities.

According to the officials in the MCC, they are ready to receive the Survekshan team. As a first step, the city is being kept free from open defecation, said an MCC official speaking to Star of Mysore. This time, the survey will be conducted from Jan. 4 to Jan. 31 across 4,237 cities in the country.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has revised the weightage for ‘Swachh Survekshan-2019’ assessments for the overall assessment and components of Swachh Bharat Mission. Last year, the survey was conducted for 4,000 marks and this time it will be for 5,000 marks. The team will conduct four rounds of survey at different levels while it was only three rounds last time. 

Star Rating of Garbage-Free Cities

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has revised its assessment pattern this time. It has launched the Protocol for Star Rating of Garbage-Free Cities. The star rating conditions have been designed in a way as to enable cities to gradually evolve into a model (7-star) city, with progressive improvements in their overall cleanliness.

The protocol, with increasing level of stringency with increasing star rating, will also be aspirational in nature, feeding cities’ ambitions and dreams of becoming an ideal city for its residents, and a role model for other cities to follow.

The star rating condition is based on 11 key parameters across the solid waste management spectrum and has been designed to both help cities assess their progress while encouraging them to move towards a better rating thereby improving their cities’ overall cleanliness and aesthetics.

 The star rating is supported by a robust verification mechanism to ensure transparency and standardisation. Cities are required to carry out self-assessment and self-verification for achieving a certain star rating. This self-declaration will be further verified through an independent third-party agency appointed by MoHUA for 3-star, 5-star and 7-star garbage-free ratings.

The vision is to make all 4,041 statutory towns/ Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) achieve “Garbage Free” status wherein at any point of time in the day, no garbage or litter is found in any public, commercial or residential locations (including storm water drains and water bodies) in the city.

Garbage is allowed only in litter bins or transfer stations and 100 percent of waste generated is scientifically managed. All legacy waste must be disposed of and scientifically managed including municipal solid waste, plastic waste and construction and demolition waste.

Data collection and marks to be awarded

Data for ranking of cities is divided into four groups:

Collection of data from online portal of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for Service-Level Progress

• Collection of data from direct observation
• Collection of data from citizen feedback
• Certifications for garbage-free cities and open defecation-free cities

Each round carries 1,250 marks.

Certification round is divided into two groups:

• Open defecation-free city
• Efficient solid waste management

One to seven stars will be provided as grading for solid waste management and waste disposal. If the city obtains seven stars, full 1,000 marks will be awarded.