As many as 73 villages have joined hands with the Gram Panchayat sanitary staff to keep their villages and water bodies clean and hygienic through the ‘Swatchatha’ initiative, which was launched on September 30 in the Ramachandrapuram assembly segment in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district.
The entire assembly segment has been divided into clusters, each comprising sanitary staff serving in the five Gram Panchayats. The group of sanitary staff in support of the NREGA and local women workers will visit a respective village, which they will thoroughly clean for two days.
“All the stakeholders will collect the solid waste generated by the households in the entire village and dump it in a five-cent pit dug for the compost. The compost will be used for farm purposes,” said B.C. Welfare Minister Ch. Venu Gopala Krishna.
He has developed and adopted the initiative for his own constituency comprising the four mandals, namely, Ramachandrapuram Rural and Urban, K. Gangavaram and Kajuluru. Accompanied by District Collector Himanshu Shukla, Mr. Krishna has kickstarted the Swatchatha initiative.
“Apart from sanitary staff and local women workers, the active villagers would also be allowed to join in the drive. The initiative aims at guaranteeing better sanitary conditions, treatment of solid waste, and better management of water bodies,” Mr. Krishna stated.
Govt officials urged to participate
Reacting to the initiative, Mr. Shukla has appealed to government officials to participate in the drive in their respective workplaces to further promote the initiative. “We have decided to submit a proposal to the State government to replicate the initiative as it will greatly contribute in keeping the villages and water bodies sanitary, as well as employ the local communities,” he said.
District Panchayat Officer Ms. Krishna Kumari and public representatives are monitoring the drive.
