The State wide pre-monsoon sanitation drive was launched in all the districts of Himachal Pradesh on Friday to identify littering hot spots, cleaning of all the major tourists and religious places, heritage places, monuments, water bodies, including traditional water sources, check dams, nallas, educational institutions, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, petrol pumps, State and national highways, agriculture markets, slum communities and Government offices etc.
The sanitation drive also focused on cleaning of office premises and weeding out of old files.
A spokesperson of the Himachal Government said the directions had been given to all the departments, Yuvak Mandals, Mahila Mandals, Self-Help Groups, community based organisations etc to deploy their available manpower and machinery to ensure that every nook and corner of the State is cleared before the onset of monsoon.
He said there had been a massive participation of the people of the State and sanitation drive had geared up official machinery as well as involved all walks of life in this campaign. In urban areas, amount of waste collected was almost double than the regular waste collected in the State.
In Bilaspur District, a special drive on the National Highways was launched for the tourists with the help of school children. The Una District administration tied up for the paper waste and plastic waste management.
In Shimla District, about 90 tons of Municipal solid waste was collected and transported under Special Swatchhta Abhiyan. The Green Force of Shimla was again activated where students from various schools participated in the awareness campaign. The Mandi District alone received more than 10,000 photos during the campaign through whatsapp. The sanitation awareness and cleanliness campaign was undertaken in Sirmaur District with special focus on cleanliness in school premises, toilets and water tanks.
In all more than 3994 quintal of solid waste was collected and dispose off in Shimla, Mandi and Kangra divisions during this special drive.