Swachhta Pakhwada: MC G’bal conducts 466 sanitation drives

Ganderbal, Aug 11: As part of Swachhata Pakhwada, a 15-day intensive and cleanliness drive is being undertaken by Municipal Council Ganderbal (MCG) with great enthusiasm and large scale public participation.
The sanitation initiative which started on 1st August, 2024 will continue for 15 days and will culminate with the celebrations of Independence Day 2024. The fortnight dedicated to cleanliness and sanitation is being observed in all urban and rural areas of the UT.
The objective is to maintain high standards of cleanliness in cities, towns and villages especially at the rural and urban convergence points like bus stands, railway stations, markets, public parks etc.
A 15-day calendar of activities was framed by Municipal Council Ganderbal which included swachhata events like clean-up of identified hotspots, sanitation drives at all tourist places and heritage sites, water bodies, cleanliness and behavioral change activities in educational institutions, revival of RRR centres, waste to wealth initiatives and clearance of all garbage vulnerable points.
Besides a varied range of sanitation activities, the action plan also includes a massive plantation drive with the theme ‘Ek Ped Shaheedon Kay Naam’ and as per the programme the Council planted at least 100 plants at various spots in the Town Ganderbal in collaboration with District Administration, Floriculture Department, Forest Department, Social Forestry Department and students of the various schools especially at Solid Waste Management Plant to pay respectful tributes to the martyrs.
The ULBs have also planned to undertake intensive sanitation and cleanliness drives in all migrant camps/ transit accommodations, besides an awareness session with the households and the Resident Welfare Associations of these camps.
The soul of the campaign will be the people’s participation in different sanitation initiatives during the 15-day long campaign.
The campaign was flagged-off from prominent locations of the Council which witnessed large public participation, besides officers and officials from different departments of District Ganderbal, NGOs, SHGs, Volunteers, Swachhata Ambassadors and students.
During the first week of the campaign, 466 different sanitation and cleanliness activities have been carried out in which citizens participated with great enthusiasm and more than 26000 people participated in different sanitation activities undertaken by Municipal Council Ganderbal so far.
During the campaign different Swachhata messages are being disseminated through the LED screens installed in the Town Ganderbal.
Furthermore, D2D visits are being carried out by the designated teams from this Council for raising awareness, and educating the public on the significance of segregation of waste at source and use of Swachhata App, an application to register sanitation related grievances, developed by Ministry of Housing & Urban affairs, GoI.
The campaign emphasizes at triggering a behavior change among the citizens and instill the sense of ownership that people from the community have to take when it comes to leading and sustaining change on the ground.
This collective effort of the government and the people will lead to making our cities and towns ‘Garbage Free’ which will ultimately improve the quality of life of the people.