UK’s work on SBA acknowledged by Union Govt

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

Secretary, state urban development Radhika Jha informed that the works done by the state urban development department have been marked by the Centre  as the Best Practices under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. She  further said that the Swachh Survekshan-2018 has been conducted by the ministry of housing and urban affairs, Government of India, in order to assess the performance of  the cities on various parameters.

Notably, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had set March, 2018 as a deadline to make the urban area open defecation free (ODF). He also declared that the urban local bodies will be rewarded for good  performance under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. “Under Swachh Bharat Mission, Swachh Survekshan-2018 is being conducted for monitoring the works being done in the cities under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India,” Jha said.

Some best practices have been identified by the ministry for cities during the Swachh Survekshan-2018 workshop held in Dehradun on August 28, 2017. It is learnt that  Uttarakhand is  determined to see at least  five of their urban local bodies figuring in the list of  the top 50 cities in the Swachh Survekshan-2018 ranking. The three top cities will get cash reward of Rs 75 lakh, Rs 50 Lakh and Rs 25 lakh each. Anti-littering and anti spitting bill has also been passed by the state government with proposition of penalty ranging from  Rs 200 to Rs 5000. Annual Character Record of the officials concerned is also being linked with the performance  under Swachh Survekshan-2018. District magistrates have been roped in to propel cities to perform better in Swachh Survekshan-2018.

Impressed by all these works done by Uttarakhand government, VK Jindal, joint secretary (Swachh Bharat Mission), Government of India, has issued a circular  asking  other states to adopt the works being done by Uttarakhand.