KOCHI:Kochi has once again entered the limelight - this time for cleanliness. The city has been ranked third in the country in the Swachh Bharat ranking. While Kozhikode came 41st in the national ranking of cities, Thiruvananthapuram came eighth in the ‘capital cities’ category.
According to an official release from the Central Government, the criteria for ranking is prevalence of open defecation and solid waste management practices in the area.
With minimal open defecation and effective solid waste management, Mysore topped the list of 476 cities in the country, while three other Karnataka cities figured among the top ten ranks.
The official release stated that 39 cities from the southern states featured among the top-100 cities, followed by 27 from East, 15 from West, 12 from North and seven from the Northeast side of the country.
The survey, conducted in the 2014-15 fiscal year, was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development under the National Sanitation Policy - 2008.
All the 476 class-I cities in the 31 states and Union Territories, with a population of above one lakh, were surveyed for sanitation practices, including the extent of open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste water treatment, quality of drinking water, quality of surface water and mortality rates due to waterborne diseases.
The Swachh Bharat rankings are based on a benchmark of 42 marks - 20 for open defecation indicators and 22 for solid waste management indicators. In Kerala, six cities were considered and surveyed for the ranking.