IMPHAL | Dec 27 : Municipal Administration, Housing and Urban Development (MAHUD) minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar has announced Rs. 1 lakh each to through his all the towns under municipal and Nagar Panchayats for town cleanliness survey.
He also announced Rs 1.5 lakh to those towns that are able to get the ‘open defecation free’ status.
Shyamkumar was addressing at the media sensitisation workshop on ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’ held at the City Convention Center, Palace Compound today. The workshop was jointly organised by Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) and MAHUD. It discussed on Swachh Survekshan (cleanliness inspection), which is a survey conducted to rank cities on various sanitation and cleanliness parameters.
The minister appealed to the media persons to spread awareness about the survey so that the state can attain top ranking.
Meghachandra Kongbam, director, DIPR said his department is ready to help all the state government departments including the MAHUD department in creating mass awareness regarding various schemes and programmes. Stating that cleanliness is a part of our age old tradition, he said with the help of media and the public, the state will get a good ranking in the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’.
Gitkumar Singh, director, MAHUD in his welcome address stated that 27 towns of the state including Imphal are competing in the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’. He said MAHUD department focuses on urban areas targeting open defecation free and scientific elimination of municipal solid waste. Stating that all Municipal areas are organising series of awareness programme for the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’, he stressed on the need for creating mass awareness by the concerned authorities and media persons among the public.
Ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), formerly ministry of urban development, had conducted Swachh Survekshan 2016 among 73 top cities of India followed by Swachh Survekshan 2017 covering 434 cities. MoHUA now proposes to conduct its third survey ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’ to rank all 4,041 statutory towns of India (competition among 500 AMRUT cities) under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U). The survey will be conducted anytime by a third party within 4th January 2018 to 31st March 2018.
Swachh Survekshan is a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission started on 2nd October 2014. India has pledged to become open defecation free and clean by 2nd October 2019, as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.
A total of 27 towns of Manipur will participate in the third survey ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’. Manipur was ranked 15th position among other cities of India and topped among the North East during the first survey held in 2016. The ranking slipped to 122nd position in comparison to other cities of India and the state slipped to 3rd position among North East during 2017 survey.
There is an addition related to the survey this time, citizens can use mobile application Swachhata App to instantly lodge a complaint by uploading a picture of littered areas which can be viewed immediately by the officials. After cleaning the specific location, the status report will be available on the Swachhata App. The app can be downloaded from Google Play Store till 31st December 2017. The usage of this app will also help our State in securing marks in the survey.
Uttam Singh, joint director, MAHUD appreciated minister Th. Shyamkumar for announcing monetary assistance for Municipal and Nagar Panchayats and hoped that it will encourage in public participation. He also appreciated the municipalities for keeping the areas even at the Nagar Panchayat areas from Imphal-Keibul areas clean during the recently concluded Manipur Sangai Festival 2017.
Shyamkumar also handed over cheques to the winners of the cleanliness competition held under the ‘Mission Imphal-Keibul’ organised by the MAHUD Department from November 19 to December 2 during the Manipur Sangai Festival. The winner of the competition Kumbi Municipal Council received Rs 80,000, second ranked Nambol Municipal Council received Rs 50,000 and third ranked Moirang Municipal Council received Rs 30,000. Consolation prizes of Rs 10,000 each were also handed over to Bishnupur Municipal Council, Ningthoukhong Municipal Council and Oinam Municipal Council. A compact disk (CD) on ‘Swachh Survekshan 2018’ song was also released at the function.
During the second session N. Gitkumar Singh and N. Uttam Singh presented the details of the survey which was followed by media interaction.
Source: Imphal Free Press
