Appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Swachchh Bharat, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that his decision to launch a cleanliness drive on Gandhi Jayanti in 2002, was way ahead of its time.
Addressing a Press conference in Panaji, Parrikar, who rubbed many the wrong way during his first tenure as CM, promised an even better drive this time under the programme invloving all educational institutions and Government offices for two hours.“Twelve years ago maybe I was slightly out of tune. (When it’s) too early, sometimes it happens. What you propose is too early, then the problem comes. In 2002, I had done the same thing, I was criticised for it,” Parrikar said.
He admitting that the issue of garbage and hygiene had become serious in Goa to a point that it was affecting the State’s brand as a tourism destination.To localise the national Swachh Bharat campaign, the Goa Government has launched the Nitoll Goy (Clean Goa), a two-hour cleaning drive under the campaign which was launched Thursday, ahead of the Prime Minister’s Swachchh Bharat initiative scheduled to start on October 2.
He said that as part of the Goa campaign, Goa would be garbage free by December 19, 2015. The 58-year-old IITian CM, during his first stint as the first BJP CM of Goa, had announced several decisions that made Government servants uncomfortable including cancelling the Gandhi Jayanti holiday and making Government servants use brooms to clean their offices on the day for two hours.