Bhubaneswar: The state capital performed fairly well but not as well as it should have in keeping the city clean that reflected in the results of Swachh Survekshan III on Saturday.

Bhubaneswar got the national rank of 245. Cuttack slipped to 402 nationally and eighth in the state. The cities were competing with 4,023 other cities of the country.

The first phase results of the national-level cleanliness survey were declared on May 16, in which the names of those cities were announced that had performed exceptionally well. The first phase list of winner cities did not have Bhubaneswar or any other city in the state.

The second phase results that were announced on Saturday gave Bhubaneswar a national rank of 245 and the top state rank among 11 other cities and towns. The city secured 1,887.82 marks out of 4,000 marks. Bhubaneswar was ranked 94th among 500 cities in 2017 and 24th among 23 cities in 2016.

The Telegraph has reported several times on the underperformance of the city in the swachh city dashboard that might reflect and affect the results of Swachh Survekshan 2018.

"The city showed negative traits in terms of maintaining cleanliness, and it is now reflecting in the results now," said social worker Alok Mohanty.

The civic body officials, however, have a different take on the lower rank and blame it on their failure to execute the waste-to-energy plant at Bhuasuni because of the opposition by local residents and non-cooperation by slum dwellers in construction of household latrines.

"The issues of Bhuasuni and matters related to construction of the household latrines did contribute a lot in the city's underperformance in the survey this time. We did face another problem, which is getting the support of less number of citizens. This is attributed to an apathetic attitude of the Centre, which didn't support us in the initiatives," said a civic official.

An official said they had taken it up to the social media and taken the help of a special tableau to spread the message on the cleanliness mission. But the Centre, which should have helped us by putting up the same on their social media sites, didn't do it, and the city authorities could not connect to their citizens as much as needed. When it comes to the state, Odisha ranked 22nd among 31 participating states and Union territories of the country. Jharkhand secured the first position.

"We are aware that the activities under the Swachh Bharat Mission are derailing in the state, and we are taking measures to improve the situation," said an official of urban development department.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: "We were contesting with more than 4,000 cities and towns. I admit we didn't do well as compared to our past performances. But, it can only be improve if the people start supporting us in our initiatives."