Mangaluru emerges as third cleanest city in the country

The Port City Mangaluru has emerged as the third cleanest city in the country in the sanitation survey under Swachh Bharath Mission conducted by the Ministry of Urban Development during 2013-15, Mayor Harinath said.

In a survey conducted in 2011 under National Urban Sanitation Policy of 2008, the city had stood at seventh position. The city was in the 11th position in the first sanitation ranking survey in 2013-14. A total of 476 cities were included in the sanitation survey.

Expressing happiness over the survey result in a press meet here on Tuesday, the mayor said Mangaluru can improve its ranking by improving facilities. He appealed to the citizens to join hands with the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) in emerging as the topper in the country with regard to sanitation.

The mayor said the rating is given based on the 19 indicators. MCC and other urban local bodies received an email from the Union Ministry of Urban Development on the latest ranking on March 15 and Mangaluru has scored 64.74 points.

MCC Commissioner Dr H N Gopalakrishna said the survey has offered a comprehensive assessment of the level of cleanliness and the respective municipal corporations level of preparedness in urban India. On scope for improvement, he said the Ministry of Urban Development has asked the MCC to address a few issues based on the second sanitation rating survey to improve the ranking and also to improve the ranks in each indicators.

The ministry has asked to improve access to and use of toilets by urban poor and other unserved households, improvement in the recycle and reuse of treated sewage/septage for non potable applications, to improve the collection of solid waste, and processing and safe disposal of solid waste, he added.

He said the ministry has also asked the MCC to ensure that city wastes do not cause adverse impacts on surrounding areas outside the city limits and monitor and evaluate mechanism to track incidences of open defecation.

It has also instructed the MCC to recover the operation and maintenance cost of sewerage system, improve the grievances redressal system for complaints regarding sewerage, improve the door-to-door collection of solid waste, sanctions for deviance on polluters/institutions for letting out untreated excreta and littering along with improving quality of drinking water and prevent water borne diseases, he stated.

The commissioner said the recent survey conducted by the MCC has revealed that 339 households do not have toilet facilities.

The toilets to 272 households have been sanctioned and measures will be taken to ensure that all households have toilet facilities during the year. Under Swacch Bharath Mission, Rs 4,000 is given by the Centre and Rs 1,333 by the State government to construct toilets for the beneficiaries, he noted.

The MCC has powers to sanction up to Rs 15,000 for the construction of individual toilets.

Along with the grants from Centre and State governments, the MCC provides funds under 24.10 per cent funds from State Finance Commission grants for the welfare of SC/ST communities, 7.25 per cent funds meant for economically backward sections of the society and 3 per cent funds earmarked for the differently abled persons for the construction of toilets.

At the same time, the MCC has identified four locations for the construction of community toilets: Kudroli, Attavar, Hoige Bazar and Dongarkery. Apart from this, about 50 locations have been identified for the construction of public toilets in the MCC limits. It has set a target to construct 10 public toilets during 2016-17.In 2015-16, five were sanctioned of which, one has been completed and two toilets works are under progress, he said (Another report on page 5).