Assam on Tuesday paid rich tribute to the Father of the Nation on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal dedicating to the people India’s tallest national flag at Gandhi Mandap in Guwahati.
The national flag on a 319.5 feet pole is the highest in the country with respect to the average elevation of the city. However, it is ranked third highest in the country considering only the height of the flag pole, after at Attari border which is 360 feet and Pimpri Chinchwad Bhakti Shakti Chawk, Pune, which is 351 feet.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Sonowal said that the Government of Assam has resolved to contribute its might to the journey of transformation of New India of Mahatma Gandhi’s dream started and spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sonowal said that Gandhiji’s philosophy on non-violence, swachhata, untouchability is still relevant not only in India but outside.
“Even the greats like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King followed Gandhiji’s philosophy to serve the humanity,” he said adding that installing the tallest National Flag in the state was motivated by Gandhiji’s principle of nationalism.
Speaking on Gandhiji’s importance on cleanliness, Sonowal while referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on 2 October, 2014 to pay tributes to the great leader and present him a Clean India on his 150th Birth Anniversary in 2019, said that Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is no longer remained a Government programme, it has become a mass movement.
“The reflections of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan can be seen in entire length and breadth of the country where people irrespective of all class are volunteering themselves to cleanliness movement,” he added.
Stating Assam Government’s commitment to ‘swachhata’ Sonowal said that his Government has constructed 26 lakh latrines in the state over past two years in the Government’s bid to declare the State a open defecation free.
He sought cooperation from all sections of the people to make Assam clean and green. He also informed that the Government is contemplating to construct ‘signature structure/postcard structure’ in each hill of the city to enable the administration as well as the city dwellers to preserve the sanctity of hill areas and discourage their encroachment.