‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ campaign witnesses enthusiastic public participation across all ULBs of Kashmir

Srinagar: In order to maintain high standards of cleanliness in cities, towns and villages, ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’, a 15-day intensive sanitation and cleanliness drive is being undertaken by all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Kashmir division with great enthusiasm and large scale public participation.
The sanitation initiative which started on 1st of August, 2024 will continue for 15 days and will culminate with the celebrations of Independence Day 2024. The fortnight dedicated to cleanliness and sanitation is being observed in all urban & rural areas of the J&K with the objective is to maintain cleanliness in cities, towns and villages especially at the rural and urban convergence points like bus stands, railway stations, markets, public parks etc.
A 15-day calendar of activities was framed for all the 40 ULBs of Kashmir division which included swachhata events like clean-up of identified hotspots, sanitation drives at all tourist places and heritage sites, water bodies, cleanliness and behavioural change activities in educational institutions, revival of RRR centres, waste to wealth initiatives and clearance of all garbage vulnerable points.
Besides a varied range of sanitation activities, the action plan also includes a massive plantation drive in ULBs with the theme ‘Ek ped Shaheedon ke naam’ to pay tributes to the martyrs.
The ULBs have also planned to undertake intensive sanitation and cleanliness drives in all migrant camps/transit accommodations, besides an awareness session with the households and the Resident Welfare Associations of these camps. The soul of the campaign will be the people’s participation in different sanitation initiatives during the 15-day long campaign.
The campaign was flagged-off from prominent locations of the ULBs which witnessed large public participation, besides officers and officials from different departments, NGOs, SHGs, Volunteers, Swachhata Ambassadors and students.
In the first 4-days of the campaign, 366 different sanitation and cleanliness activities have been carried out for 21430 minutes. The citizens participated with great enthusiasm and more than 21000 people participated in different sanitation activities undertaken by the ULBs so far.
During the campaign different Swachhata messages are being disseminated through the LED screens installed in the ULBs. Further, D2D visits are being carried out by the designated teams from the ULBs for raising awareness, and educating the public on the significance of segregation of waste at source and use of Swachhata App.