Swachh Bharat ranking: Mysuru in first position, Trichy second

Mysuru in Karnataka and Thiruchirapalli (Trichy) in Tamil Nadu have been ranked first and second among 476 cities in the "Swachh Bharat" rankings, the union urban development ministry announced on Saturday.

Besides Mysuru and Thiruchirapalli, other cities in the top 10 are Navi Mumbai, Kochi, Hassan, Mandya and Bengaluru in Karnataka, Thiruvananthapuram, Halisahar in West Bengal and Gangtok.

According to a ministry statement, all the 476 Class-1 cities in 31 states and union territories, each with a population of above one lakh, were surveyed for assessing total sanitation practices covering a set of parameters.

The parameters include extent of open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste water treatment, drinking water quality, surface water quality of water bodies and mortality due to water borne diseases.

The survey conducted during 2014-15 was commissioned by the ministry as required under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.

Since the "Swachh Bharat" mission is being implemented in urban areas with focus on construction of individual household, community and public toilets to eradicate open defecation and ensure door-to-door collection and disposal of municipal solid waste, all the 476 Class-1 cities have been ranked based on the data pertaining to these elements from out of the data generated in the survey.

Thiruchirapalli is around 350 km from Tamil Nadu's capital Chennai, which bagged the 20th position.