Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Stressing that the country can’t be made clean without fixing the garbage problem in Delhi that has reached crisis proportion, Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs (HUA) Hardeep Singh Puri on September 24, 2017, invoked the pride of being a resident of the national capital to spur people into collective action for effective solid waste management.
Puri participated in the ‘Swachhat Hi Sewa’ campaign at Bhikaji Cama Place in South Delhi by sweeping and collecting the litter and later addressed the people, sanitation workers and officials of the Ministry and South Delhi Municipal Corporation who performed shramdan along with him. He also inaugurated modern litter pickers imported by South MCD.
The Minister noted that being a citizen and resident of Delhi is a ‘matter of pride’ and is a unique privilege that brings several advantages in the form of better services and amenities not available in other cities. He quoted the example of Delhi Metro on which the central and state governments incurred huge expenditure with more in the offing. Puri said this pride would, however, be punctured if Delhi is not made clean and the garbage issue was not addressed properly.
Puri said “I would like to invoke that pride of being residents of the national capital and urge the people to shed lethargy and make due contribution in effective solid waste management so that we can overcome the garbage which is threatening to adversely impact the lives of all.”
Puri observed that the central government has accorded sanitation higher priority over even economic transformation given its importance in several ways. He said the intent, passion and energy with which PM Narendra Modi has been piloting Swachh Bharat Mission has resulted in an unprecedented ‘individual connect’ with sanitation across the country. This has led to construction of about five crore toilets across the country including over 38 lakh in urban areas in a short span of three years.
Stating that solid waste management in cities is the major challenges in urban areas over the next two years of the mission, Puri stressed on the need to convert the ‘individual connect’ with sanitation demand into ‘social connect’ to ensure the success of the solid waste management chain through collective action. Noting that people have a better connect with immediate neighborhood, the Minister unveiled ‘My Home-My Neighborhood’ (Ghar Bi Saaf-Pados Bhi Saaf) campaign.