Cleanest City of India in Swachh Bharath Mission (2015-16): Mysore Model and the Lessons for other Cities

Background: Mysore was ranked as the cleanest city for the second successive time in 2016. Total sanitation is the goal of Swachh Bharath Mission and good practices and models need to be shared and adopted. In this context an explorative research was conducted to prepare the list of key drivers for sanitation in Mysore. Methods: The sanitation value chain for Mysore city was constructed. It consisted of containment, emptying, transport, treatment and disposal. The key stake holders in this chain were interviewed and field visits were done for status and process assessment. Stake holders in this chain were grouped for common roles and strength, weakness, opportunity and threat analysis was done. Individual interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. Results: In Mysore we have found that only 10% of the households depend on onsite facilities for faecal sludge management and 88% of the household have direct sewer connections. Only 12% of the sewage is left untreated into receiving waters or the natural environment. Door to door collection of solid waste is present in all the corporation wards. Open air defecation is far and few and restricted to couple of slums and construction sites. Bylaw framing, planning, implementation of solid waste management by the municipal corporation is satisfactory. Conclusion: The city of Mysore had a good history and basic infrastructure since a long time. The Swachh bharath mission played a catalytic role in the acceleration of sanitation process. Involvement of voluntary organizations, good leadership at municipal corporation level made this success possible.