Mysuru gears up for 'Swachh Dasara' to keep festival streets litter-free

Officials said the "Swachh Dasara" drive s aimed at ensuring Mysuru stays litter-free during the festivities and retains its place among the cleanest cities of India.

Mysuru: Mysuru City Corporation is all set to take up "Swachh Dasara" initiatives in order to position Mysuru as a model for sustainable and clean festivals. Additionally, this is done to safeguard the city's reputation and legacy during periods of high tourism. With this, they hope to make Mysuru cleaner, greener, and more sustainable.

On Wednesday, Mysore City Corporation Commissioner Shaikh Tanveer Asif convened a stakeholder gathering on Wednesday to integrate festive celebration with civic responsibility. He was joined by AEE K S Mruthyunjaya and other officials.

They informed them that the purpose of this project is to make cleanliness a shared duty so that Mysuru stays litter-free and clean throughout the Dasara celebration and emphasised how crucial it was to keep Mysuru among India's cleanest cities.

They sought stakeholder support and cooperation to identify and address gaps or difficulties ahead of time. They solicited feedback and ideas from them to improve sanitation during Dasara and  intended to establish a strong volunteer base for citizen-led clean-up efforts. 

Highlighting the cleanliness challenges during Dasara, they informed them that, due to huge influx of tourists there would be high footfall in public areas. Also temporary street vendors are likely to add to unmanaged waste and people tend to litter during public events. There is a chance of increased use of single-use plastics.

Additionally, there may be a significant amount of food waste produced, and rubbish may be strewn among tourist attractions and heritage sites. Events that take place late at night may cause cleaning cycles to be delayed. The traffic might hamper the the deployment of garbage collection vans.

In order to provide on-the-ground support and act as "Cleanliness Ambassadors" in their local communities, they urged interested parties to recruit volunteers (students, youth organizations, and self-help groups) and encourage them to launch efforts to inform residents and visitors to use dustbins and refrain from littering. They are to encourage neighbors and local businesses to keep the area tidy.

"The public can even help MCC by reporting areas where littering occurs and unattended trash." According to Asif, they can even use social media to spread awareness.

Commissioner Asif outlined some of the main events that MCC has planned and stated that they are determined to take action to maintain cleanliness throughout Dasara. All zones will see the deployment of additional personnel and vehicles.They plan to continuously monitor to ensure clean streets, public spaces and tourist areas.

Asif even stated that, MCC has instructed all Deputy Special officers and event organizers to prioritise cleanliness and proper waste segregation during all Dasara events. MCC has sought assistance from transportation hubs (Indian Railways, KSRTC, Auto,Tonga and Cab Associations) for this.

They plan to take up IEC campaigns with themes of 'Don’t Litter/Use Dustbins'. MCC will display and monitor daily waste generation figures on a real-time basis using digital boards across the city during Dasara including food waste generated at Ahara Mela. MCC is in discussion with a private Company to engage their volunteers for collection of dry waste generated during Dasara. 

Waste to wonder

They intend to transforming waste to wonder models as an awareness campaign by creating "Mysuru's heritage monuments" out of recycled materials and turning waste resources (such as scrap, plastic, metal, tires, etc.) into artistic art installations. They intend to exhibit these installations in prominent public places during Dasara. They want to spread the idea of "waste as a resource" and encourage people to embrace sustainable behaviours.