Jaipur: Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Friday (September 15) urged people to take a pledge to revive various water bodies that have become clogged due to waste. On the occasion of Swachhta Pakhwada, being celebrated from September 15 to October 2 in collaboration with the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and other ministries, Union Jal Shakti Minister said that targeted and result oriented activities should be carried out during the fortnight. Work allocation should be done properly to achieve best results, he said.
Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat joined the virtual conference from Jaipur while Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh and Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri jointly launched the campaign through a virtual conference from Delhi.
He also chaired an interaction between sarpanches, block heads, mayors, CEO, zilla parishad, district magistrate/deputy commissioner and other officials of rural and urban local bodies.
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District Collector Deepak Meena of UP’s Meerut and Deputy Commissioner Sumit Satwan of Assam’s Lakhimpur shared their experiences during the interaction.
Minister Shekhawat stressed the importance of source segregation of waste, removing old waste and increasing awareness about cleanliness.
The minister said that the Swachhta Pakhwada is an opportunity to identify and identify the best hygiene practices from different parts of the country and replicate them.
The Union Minister said the problems of urban and rural areas can be tackled together as cities have more capacity but lack space while rural areas do not have capacity but space is sufficient.
The Union minister asked the secretary of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation to prepare a long-term plan with the secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to ensure maximum convergence while setting up a strong mechanism to achieve this objective.
He also urged everyone to take a pledge to revive various water bodies which have become clogged due to waste.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
