New Delhi: Coinciding with the 154th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has identified over 6.4 lakh sites from urban and rural India for Swachhata Abhiyan. “It’s an hour-long Shramdaan for Swachhata (cleanliness drive) on October 1, where people from all walks of life will join the cleaning activities at public places like markets, railway tracks, water bodies, tourist locations, places of worship, etc. for visible cleanliness,” said Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi on Friday.
The mega sprucing-up drive aims to clean garbage dumping points, railway tracks and stations, airports and surrounding areas, roadsides and stretches of national and state highways, water bodies, ghats, slums, underneath the bridges, market places, lanes, places of worship, tourist spots, bus stands, toll plazas, zoos and wildlife sanctuaries, gaushalas, hills, beaches, ports, residential areas, anganwadis, school and college premises among others.
Puri further said that the Army, Navy, and Air Force will join hands with civilians to clean up various garbage dumping grounds, railway tracks, heritage buildings, step-wells, and forts.
“The long stretches of the National Highway are being adopted for cleanliness by lead groups like Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth and other local communities. Many coastal regions have been taken up for Swachhata (cleanliness) by eminent groups led by Afroz Shah and Sudarsan Pattnaik. Sulabh International has come forward to adopt community and public toilets for cleaning on October 1,” said Puri while interacting with reporters.
The Union minister said that a large number of Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) have come forward to volunteer for Shramdaan (contribute) in nearly one lakh residential areas while village communities have come forward to adopt around 35,000 anganwadi kendras across the country.
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“NGOs, market associations, SHGs, faith groups, trade bodies, private sector, etc. have come forward to do Shramdaan in 22,000 market areas, 10,000 water bodies, nearly 7,000 bus stands, and toll plazas, nearly 1000 gaushalas, nearly 300 zoos and wildlife sanctuaries and various other locations that will have mega cleanliness drive in rural and urban India,” he stated.
He said that Uttar Pradesh has adopted over one lakh sites for cleanliness drive, whereas Maharashtra will be conducting cleanliness drive in over 62,000 locations with citizens joining the Shramdaan (volunteer their service) at beaches, religious places, schools and colleges, and water bodies.
In Telangana, temples of historical significance across the state will be cleaned. Madhya Pradesh has selected 57,000 locations, whereas Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have planned Shramdaan in nearly 40,000 and 35,000 locations respectively. Union cabinet ministers, MPs, several chief ministers along with mayors, Sarpanches, and political leadership will join the citizen-led mega cleanliness drive too, Puri added.
Meanwhile, Puri said that his ministry is hand-holding several states to complete their smart city projects.“There are several states which are lagging behind in smart city projects. But we are hand-holding those states to complete their projects by June year,” said Puri.
It is worth mentioning that the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has set June 2024 as the timeline to complete all the smart city projects in 100 locations.
