The country’s biggest-ever cleanliness drive, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2 with a target set for making India ‘clean’ by 2019. With the formal announcement of the programme, ministers, celebrities, sport stars, politicians, political parties, the judiciary and corporations and others have all come forward to be a part of this programme and to encourage the general public to participate actively in this mission.
Various states of the country responded actively to the Swachh Bharat mission and participated in it with enthusiasm. Here is a brief description on how different states were involved in the launch of Clean India campaign.
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched the Swachh Bharat campaign emphasising the need for cleanliness to ensure the beauty and progress of a place. Wielding a broom in Bhopal, he requested people to devote at least two hours in a week towards cleanliness. Like NaMo, he also administered a pledge to the people, and government officials and employees.
Gujarat
The state government of Gujarat announced a special cleanliness drive in connection with Clean India Campaign. Under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Mrs. Anandiben Patel, a meeting was organised in which it was decided that the state would participate in the cleanliness campaign from 2nd October to 31st October, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The cleanliness campaign was launched at Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will continue to be celebrated in phased manner till 2019. The movement had been responded enthusiastically by the people on its first day, and is expected to provide a boost to the tourism sector of the state.
Assam
In Assam, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched on 2nd October by Sports Minister Sarbanand Sonowal in Guwahati railway station in the presence of officials of the North East Frontier Railways. Assam Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla launched the drive at Old Janata Bhawan premises in Guwahati. Government employees and the common people have vowed to contribute towards this Abhiyan.
However, the actual campaign started on 5th October when Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi joined in the cleaning campaign by sweeping garbage in three different localities of the state capital. NGOs, public organizations and the common people took part in the campaign organized by the Kamrup Metropolitan District Administration and Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC). Tarun Gogoi announced the forming of Green Brigade committees to keep the localities neat and clean. Though Gogoi had mentioned that he had launched a similar programme in 2012, it was not a successful one. But this time the cleanliness drive will be a continuous process in Guwahati and in other parts of the state. While he launched the swachh campaign in Guwahati, his other ministers and Congress MLAs launched the clean India drive in different districts on 5th Oct.
Maharashtra
Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao gave a cleanliness vow to the officers and staff of his state ministry to mark the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The Governor read out the pledge to the state government officials in Marathi. Over 10,000 employees of Central and Western Railways joined the Swachh Bharat mission by carrying out cleanliness drives in different parts of the state.
Uttar Pradesh
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh started the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in his home state. He said that only a clean India can be healthy, and appealed to every person to dedicate at least two hours per week for cleanliness. Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharti, launched the mission in her constituency Jhansi and said she will devote 300 hours annually to the mission. She said that the cleaning will continue on a daily basis. She also visited the Nagar Nigam office in Jhansi and administered a pledge in front of the employees to join the campaign.
Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu of the state of Andhra Pradesh had participated in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan at Prakash Nagar in Vijayawada on 2nd Oct. He took part in a cleaning programme and a padayatra, appealing everyone to participate in the cleanliness drive. Union Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitaraman and several state ministers took active participation in the campaign. The state government also launched “NTR Sujala Scheme” which will provide 20 litres of pure water at the cost of Rs 2 in all the 13 districts.
In Telangana, Governor ESL Narasimhan along with government employees took brooms and cleaned the roads and took part in another cleaning up programme in a school in Hyderabad. He emphasised on promoting green practices to protect environment and also urged to keep the surroundings clean.
Punjab and Haryana
In Punjab and Haryana, too, a cleanliness drive was launched, which was carried out in offices, police headquarters, Raj Bhawan, etc. To make it a people’s movement, officials, activists, citizens, employees and school children across Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh took a ‘cleanliness oath’ on 2nd Oct. At Punjab police headquarters, officials took the pledge in the presence of Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh. Punjab governor Shivraj V Patil appealed to everyone to inculcate the habit of cleanliness, and encourage others to participate in the drive. He also mentioned that proper steps will be taken to maintain the cleanliness of important public places of Chandigarh. In Haryana too, many participated in the campaign. Cleanliness drives were launched in different parts of Haryana.
Bihar
Union Ministers Ramvilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha, Ravishankar Prasad and actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, along with Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, took up the broom to formally start the Swachh Bharat mission in Bihar on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. They started the cleanliness drive at different places in the state. Paswan and Kushwaha cleaned the platform and premises of Hajipur Railway station, while Ravishankar Prasad, along with General Manager of East Central Railway (ECR) zone Madhuresh Kumar took part in the mission at Patna junction station. MP Shatrughan Sinha took part in the campaign at Patna Airport. The Chief Minister flagged off a vehicle which would travel around the state to spread awareness of cleanliness among the people. ECR officials swept the platforms and station premises of different big and small stations.
It is a matter of great satisfaction for all to see the states are getting actively involved in Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The Mission needs to be continued with full enthusiasm so that it will be a success by 2019.
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