The city is gearing up to be assessed by the Union government for its cleanliness in yet another round of survey next month. A team from the government will conduct the Swachh Sarvekshan survey here between January 4 and February 4, 2017. The port city would be among 500 cities to be assessed in this round of the survey.
Sources in Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) told The Hindu that the civic body has already given the telephone numbers of 1,000 citizens of the city selected on random basis to the government. The telephone numbers were picked up from the complaint registry of the corporation and as wells as from the signature registry maintained for wards for ensuring collection of solid waste from door steps daily. The survey team officials would cross check the citizens on the cleanliness claims of the corporation by calling them up and questioning them.
Of the total marks reserved under the survey, 40 per cent of the marks has been earmarked for solid waste management collection; 20 per cent for processing and disposal of waste collected; 30 per cent for construction of public toilets and open defecation free aspects; five per cent for capacity building activities of the city corporation employees; and another five per cent marks for IEC (Information, Education and Communication) activities over sanitation. The civic body is now in the process of handing over its documentation on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) adopted in sanitation aspects. It included fitting of GPS equipment on vehicles collecting solid waste and tracking their movement, sweeping done in commercial areas, garbage clearing efficiency and the like. Earlier this year, a survey by the Union Ministry of Urban Development had rated Mangaluru as the third cleanest city among 476 cities across the country. The sanitation rating was for 2013-15 based on 19 indicators. Mysuru had bagged the first rank followed by Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation.
Mangaluru scored 64.74 points, Mysuru 65.09 points, and Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation 64.91 points, a March 11, 2016, letter to urban local bodies by the Ministry said.
