The Mandya City Municipal Council (CMC) has launched a competition to get the ‘Cleanest City’ tag during the Swachh Sarvekshan 2017, ahead of the Quality Council of India (QCI) team’s visit on Wednesday. The team will conduct a three-day survey under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Subsequently, the CMC has taken up works such as beautifying footpaths, removing posters from compound walls, evicting footpath encroachments, removing weeds from parks, clearing illegal parking from roads, repairing street lights, evicting pavement vendors, repairing leakages of the water pipelines, continuously clearing garbage and placing garbage bins at selected places for the past three days.
It has also issued a release and requested the public not to defecate at open places.
Negative feedback
Nevertheless, the CMC is worried about people giving negative feedback to the QCI team of the Union Ministry of Urban Development, owing to the lack of measures against the prevalence of many issues.
No steps were taken to conduct animal birth control (ABC) for stray dogs. Stray cattle and pigs are also affecting the reputation of the town, Somashekar Keregodu, a councillor, said.
Expressing his unhappiness over the CMC not fixing meters for water connections and the poor solid waste management system, he said: “The State government is ready to release funds to address the drinking water crisis. The CMC should continuously take steps to improve the basic infrastructure.”
Positive feedback
The team will visit various places to collect the feedback. The CMC has been striving hard to maintain cleanliness across all 35 wards, T. N. Narasimha Murthy, Commissioner, CMC, told The hindu.
The assessors will inspect the various infrastructure facilities, hold discussions with CMC officials and councillors, and collect feedback from the public on the efficiency and commitment of the CMC in maintaining cleanliness to complete their appraisal. The public should offer positive feedback and should not defecate in open places as this would affect the competition, another officer said.
The town lacks public and community toilets. When questioned, the officials said the CMC would soon construct them at selected places.
