GUWAHATI: Under the scheme Jal Jeevan Mission, all rural households will be provided with Functional Household Tap Water Connection by 2024. This was stated by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the Swachh Mahotsav 2019 organised on October 3, 2019 at the Khanapara Veterinary Field.
On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and successful completion of five years of Swachh Bharat Mission on 2nd October, 2019, Assam celebrated Swachh Mahotsav. The event was visited by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, PHED minister Rihon Daimari, Panchayat & Rural Development minister Naba Kumar Doley, principal secretary of PHED Assam Avinash Joshi, secretary, PHE cum mission director, sanitation Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin Dr. Siddharth Singh (IAS) along with the Deputy Commissioners and EEs of respective districts.
"The two most important priorities of Hon’ble PM are plastic waste management and Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to ensure a clean environment as well as safe drinking water for all and we all have to work together to make this successful," stated the principal secretary of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Assam, Avinash Joshi.
At the Swachh Mahotsav, CM Sonowal handed over 1,004 piped water supply schemes to the Panchayat Raj Institutions and a mention regarding CM’s Special 1 Lakh Toilet Initiative was also made that aims to expedite the process of LOBs (Left out of Baseline Survey). Apart from this, another key highlight of the ceremony was the launch of a comic book on Chacha Choudhury and Sabu for children depicting them as “Swachhata Doots.” The key messages of the comic books will be sanitation, health, hygiene, waste segregation that will help children with nascent mind to become agents of change.
In his key note address, CM Sonowal put emphasis on discarding the use of single use plastics and starting the use of products made of bamboo and cotton. “All the Gram Panchayat representatives should take the message of “Swachhata Hi Sewa” to the grassroots and create awareness at the village level and tea garden areas,” he said.
The CM along with the PHE Minister and other delegates visited the exhibition stalls put up by various government organisations and private firms who work towards the scientific management of plastic waste. Some of the stalls also displayed alternatives of single use plastic along with various products made by recycled plastic waste. The dignitaries then participated in the Plastic Shramdaan and the ceremonial ‘flagging off’ of the truck which contained segregated plastic waste to be sent to CIPET (Central Institute of Plastic Engineering Technology) for recycling.
Highlighting the various harmful effects of plastic, Rihon Daimari, Minister PHE, Assam during his speech said, “Plastic is not just polluting the environment but it is also adding to a lot of health hazards. There is an urgent need to stop the consumption of single use plastic immediately.
From this day onwards, PHE department will discard the use of single use plastics. I urge everyone to join the movement and make minimal use of plastic and completely refuse single use plastic for our environment and our betterment.”
He also talked about the achievements of SBM (G), Assam and highlighted the initiatives undertaken by the department in order to achieve the goals of the mission.
An audio-visual on the journey of SBM (G) Assam was shown which depicted the progress of the mission and the various initiatives and activities undertaken to bring in a change in the ingrained behaviour of the people.
The ceremony was based on the theme of Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) 2019 which was launched on September 11, 2019 across India with the focus on plastic waste management. In Assam 1,27,144 number of people participated in SHS activities (as on October 1, 2019). A total of 1,27,137 people were mobilized, 6,959 kgs of plastic waste was collected and 6,394 kgs was disposed.
