Sitharaman participates in ‘Swachhta Hi Seva’ campaign

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on October 2, 2018, participated in the ‘Swachhta Hi Sewa’ campaign in Delhi Cantonment.

Deputy Director General Defence Estates Suresh Nagar administered Swachhta Shapath to a gathering of over 2,000 persons. Director General Defence Estates Deepa Bajwa, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Subhash Chandra, GOC Delhi Area Lt Gen Asit Mistry and other senior officers of Ministry of Defence, President Cantonment Board, Brig Rajesh Sachdev, Vice-President and Nominated and Elected Members of the Board and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Sitharaman expressed her great pleasure to be part of this momentous occasion taking forward the path breaking ‘Swachhta Hi Sewa’ programme of Government of India. She said that Swachh Bharat Mission is the biggest public campaign launched by Government of India on October 2, 2014, wherein members of general public, government employees and students have voluntarily taken part since its inception. This campaign was especially launched on 145^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi to fulfil his dream of clean India. Gandhi Ji said “Sanitation is more important than independence”. The Government of India believes in this vision of Bapu, she said.

Sitharaman said that even after 72 years of independence and despite many awareness programmes about the environmental sanitation and personal cleanliness which were launched earlier by the Government of India, not much progress in the field of sanitation and cleanliness could be achieved. Therefore, in order to fulfil dream of Mahatma Gandhi to make India clean, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was introduced, she added.

She congratulated Director General Defence Estates who played a vital role to make cantonments of India clean for sincere efforts of DGDE out of 62 Cantonments, 61 Cantonments spread all over the country have been certified as Open Defecation Free (ODF) Cantonments.

She also complimented the Cantonment Board Delhi for the colossal effort undertaken by it in the field of Swachhta. It was ranked first in Swachhta Survekshan-2018 among 62 Cantonments of the country. The Defence Minister congratulated everyone for bringing dream of Clean India closer to reality and showcasing Cantonments as ambassadors of cleanliness initiatives across the country, according to a PIB release.

Sitharaman also participated in Sharmdaan at Sadar Bazar along with Army officers, Elected Members and representatives of RWAs / traders associations. She also inaugurated a free ‘Health Camp’ organized by Delhi Cantt Board at Cantonment General Hospital.