Now, Mayavati-ruled Uttar Pradesh is trying to ensure tourists like Eliza don’t go back with such seemingly irreconcilable images of historical grandeur and urban squalor: it has started a waste disposal plan with help from private firms.

 Eliza wondered why cities like Agra and Varanasi, another top draw for tourists, couldn’t manage their mess, leaving visitors to be greeted with such appalling sights. “The contrasts are difficult to reconcile,” said the 27-year-old, whose own country Rome’s architectural wonders draw thousands from around the world.

 But if Aloke Ranjan, principal secretary in the state’s urban development department, is to be believed, Eliza and countless other backpackers from abroad may have a more pleasant experience next time.

 “The unique feature of the (waste-disposal) plan is that the two categories of wastes— bio-degradable and non-degradable— will be separated at the primary stage of collection, making it easier to treat them,” Ranjan said.

 Households are being given two bins, one green and another red, by the civic authorities. “They can dump vegetable, paper, discarded food and other degradable items into the green bin. In the red bin, they are being told to throw non-degradable items like polythene, plastic bottles and other such leftovers,” Ranjan said.

 Hanjer Biotech, which has got the contract to clean Agra, is expected to produce compost out of the waste. Officials claimed the new plan will take care of 90 per cent of the 750-tonne waste generated in the city.

The initiative has lessons for cities like Calcutta, which have also struggled to wield the broom on their filth. Studies have thrown up two main problems.

One is the lack of segregation of garbage and the practice of dumping them in low-lying marshy land, a practice which also poses a potential environment threat.

Households in Calcutta don’t separate organic and non-degradable wastes, forcing the Calcutta Municipal Corporation to try alternative modes of disposal.

According to Ravi Singh, an environmentalist, things were in poor shape, until the new project got under way, as Agra didn’t have enough facilities to manage waste. “The Yamuna (which flows along the city) had also become dirtier. Agra was perpetuating the image of hell in India among foreign tourists,” he said.

But Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, felt civil society should be given a role in the clean-up drive along with government agencies and the private firms involved.

After Agra, officials plan to take the initiative to Varanasi, another favorite with foreign tourists where they encounter streets just as filthy. The challenge of rolling out the plan will be bigger here: the city generates 900 tones of waste daily, 150 tones more than Agra.

Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Aligarh and Moradabad will also be covered by the new project.