The Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti last year, completes one year on Friday. The mission seeks to achieve the goal of clean India in the next four years. Keeping this in mind, many youth, social activists, volunteers and NGO workers were seen on a cleanliness drive across the State to mark Gandhi Jayanti.
One of the members from an NGO “ Shuruwat The first step” Mallika said that the mission is mainly meant to ensure abolition of open defecation, collection and processing, disposal and recycling of municipal solid waste. We along the youth of state will contribute our mite to clean up the valley. Besides, we will alert the people regarding the menace of dengue, the vector-borne disease that claims lives every year. We must keep our neighbourhood clean to keep this and other disease at bay,” she said.
Another activist Jayant who has been associated with Swachh Bharat Mission since the day it was launched said the mission would truly succeed if one and all plunge into it enthusiastically. “If you are working with any organisation you must start the cleanliness drive with your employees, students, co-workers, classmates. You must harp on the mission continuously to help it yield long-term result. Rhetorical lip-service and once in a blue moon initiative would come to naught ,” said Neerja, a volunteer who was seen carrying on the drive at Gandhi Park on Friday. Poonam Sharma, a social activist, said “A behavioral change in the people regarding healthy sanitation practices should come. The stronger the trend grows collectively the better. As individuals, we should keep our surroundings clean and suggest our families and friends to practice the same. We must take the issue up with our neighbours if we find them throwing garbage outside their places.”