It is yet another feather in the cap of Mysuru, which was adjudged as ‘Cleanest City’ in the past, on multiple occasions. Mysuru shared the five star rating with other five cities in an initiative of the Union government. Even last year, Mysuru had secured the same ranking. However, it is the only city to get five stars, in the entire South India.
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has taken up Garbage Free City Star Rating as part of Swachh Survekshan. The other cities that have bagged the five star rating are: Ambikapur, in Chhattisgarh; Rajkot and Surat in Gujarat; Indore in Madhya Pradesh; and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. Surprisingly, no other city of Karnataka has secured either three star or even one star, under the initiative. Except for four cities in Andhra Pradesh, which have got three star grading, no other city from the entire South India figure in the list of 141.
Garbage Free City Star Rating envisions to enable cities to gradually evolve into a model (7-star) city, with progressive improvements in their overall cleanliness. The star rating conditions are based on 25 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.
In order to institutionalise a mechanism for cities to achieve Garbage Free status, and to motivate them to achieve higher degrees of cleanliness, a Seven Star rating Protocol is defined for Garbage Free cities, which builds on aspirations of cities to progress towards higher standards of ‘Swachhata’ or cleanliness.
The Star Rating is supported by a verification mechanism to ensure transparency and standardisation. Cities were required to carry out self-assessment and self-verification for achieving a certain star rating. This self-declaration was further verified through an independent third-party agency Kantar appointed by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for 1-star, 3-star, 5-star and 7-star Garbage Free Ratings.
It has to be noted that Mysuru was adjudged the cleanest city in 2014-15 and 2015-16. In 2016-17, Mysuru slipped to fifth place. In 2017-18, it slipped further to eighth place. However, it topped the list of cities with a population below 10 lakh. in 2018-19, Mysuru scaled up to the third slot. Besides, in 2018-19, Mysuru secured the ODF+ distinction for being open-defecation free city and secured the same five star grading as garbage free city.
District in-charge Minister S T Somasekhar congratulated the District Administration, people’s representatives, NGOs and citizens of the city for the rating. “Mysuru is the pride of Karnataka. The city and Mysuru district would be further developed into a model, under the guidance of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Urban Development Minister,” he said.