Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs, on Tuesday inaugurated the Delhi regional workshop on Swachh Survekshan 2019, the cleanliness survey conducted by the government as a prelude to encouraging cities to improve urban sanitation by ranking them based on implementation of various cleanliness initiatives in a timely and innovative manner.
“With a prime focus on sustainability and large-scale citizen participation, the Swachh Survekshan 2019 will ensure garbage free and open defecation free city. Also, the ease of living index will be functional in encouraging people towards the good Urban Planning and Management,” said the minister while addressing the audience at the workshop.
Puri said he was delighted to inaugurate the workshop to prepare the urban local bodies and their employees for Swachh Survekshan 2019. The workshop was also attended by Naresh Kumar, Chairman, New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament from New Delhi.
“With the launch of Swachh Survekshan in 2016 where we had 73 citizens, the number reached somewhere between 3,000-4,000 in 2018 and is now expected to cover all the citizens across the nation in 2019. Several amendments have been made in Swachh Survekshan 2019,” said Naresh Kumar, Chairman, NDMC.
The objective of the survey is to encourage large-scale citizen participation and create awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a better place to live in.
“Plastic waste, sewage and landfill being the biggest threat serve as a huge challenge. The presence of plastic molecules in salt indicates the presence of all plastic wastes in oceans. After the plastic breaks, the molecules enter in your food chain in form of salt. This is hazardous to us,” warned Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament, New Delhi.
The workshop is part of the government’s efforts to interact with urban local bodies to familiarise them with the survey methodology, survey process and output indicators, and also clarifying their expectations from the survey.
