ARTICLE | SBM Success Stories
M Through relentless efforts, the city of Mysore has achieved waste segregation in 100 per cent households
Mysore and Ambikapur – The journeys less talked about Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has made many Indian cities aware of the importance of hygiene and cleanliness. According to the latest ranking by Swachh Survekshan 2020, Mysore, the city of palaces, won the award for India’s Cleanest Medium City, and Ambikapur, a small town of Chhattisgarh, achieved the title of India’s Cleanest City in the 1 – 10 lakh population category. This was possible not only because of the initiatives made by the governments of Karnataka and Chhattisgarh but it also involved active participation of the public, which is an essential part for the betterment of any city’s sanitation standards shrila pokhariyal Editorial Assistant
34 October 2020 | www.urbanupdate.in
ysore, earlier known for its palaces and rich heritage of maharajas, is now known to be one of the cleanest cities inIndia. The credit for Mysore’s success in the Swachh Survekshan goes to the early planners and occupants of the city – the kingdoms led by Maharajas. For over hundred years, the city has a steady supply of clean water, wide roads, and an excellently planned underground drainage system. A sewage treatment plant was set up in Mysore by the City Improvement Trust Board in 1910. The excellent infrastructure given to the city by its ancestors, coupled with the policies of the Government of Karnataka, worked to keep the city’s legacy of being one of the cleanest cities in India intact. With a population of approximately one million and a large number of tourists from all around the world, Mysore naturally produces a large amount of solid waste on a daily basis. Thanks to Mysore City Corporation (MCC), the city has a waste management system in place that produces zero waste. The corporation has established ninezero-waste management units which are responsible for treating half of the city’s waste. In addition to this, MCC has set up 47 material recovery facilities across the city. More than 2,000 MCC workers work relentlessly to collect, segregate, transport the garbage and sweep the streets every morning. As a result of public awareness campaigns organised by the MCC, 80 per cent of all households in Mysore segregate their waste into red and blue bins. The vegetable waste is sent as feed for stray cattle and the rest of the organic waste is sent to processing plants for producing organic manure. MCC also uses technology in a smart and practical way to assist in the waste management system of the city. Using technology, the corporation actively tracks garbage collection and disposal vehicles and regularly checks
