Bhubaneswar, Aug 9: City's poor rank of 331 among 476 Class-I cities across the country has put programmes run by the municipal corporation as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the solid waste management plan under the scanner.

Bhubaneswar's poor show comes after the municipal corporation having spent around Rs 40 crore to implement the two programmes.

The rankings done by the Union ministry of urban development, which were announced yesterday, have put Mysore on top of the chart and Damoh, a city in Madhya Pradesh, at the bottom. Cuttack has ranked 296, while Sambalpur stand at 467.

Additional public relations officer of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Gopal Panigrahi, however, said that the ranking was not final and this "interim" job was restricted to one component - individual household latrines - under the abhiyan.

"We started the implementation of this component last week, as central funds reached us very late. However, we will improve fast with the appointment of ward officers and community-level officials,'' Panigrahi added.

The rankings will be updated every three months. The ministry would later publish a final ranking list based on 100 marks attributed to various parameters.

However, the poor rating of the city has invited criticism from several quarters.

"The execution of solid waste management plant near Bhuasuni is yet to be materialised. The civic body is spending Rs 45 to 50 crore per year to transport the waste from various areas to the transit point near Sainik School and then to Bhuasuni. The ranking has proved that something is wrong somewhere,'' said Old Bhubaneswar resident Akshay Rath.

However, Panigrahi said: "The overall sanitation of the city is good, but this specific survey was based on household latrines. We have started execution of the awareness campaign though street plays and folk art shows. Teams of the culture department is carrying out the campaign to help slum dwellers understand the importance of cleanliness.''

"The civic body should spread awareness on cleanliness through campaigns," said Shibadutta Kar, an employee of a private firm in the city.