By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 28: Meghalaya has exhibited exuberance in the ongoing Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) campaign, scheduled to culminate on October 2 across the country.
Different stakeholders in Meghalaya — the government departments, local bodies, Headmen and students — have come together to make this green campaign a success in Meghalaya.
Meghalaya’s sustainable culture and lifestyle have always been in harmony with nature and the SHS campaign is an extension of the efforts that are evident among the people of Meghalaya to keep their surroundings clean and green.
The government authorities here in Meghalaya, through its different wings, have organised around 600 events so far including cleaning drives, awareness programmes and campaigns titled “Youth Vs Garbage” to motivate the youths to join the fight for a garbage-free India.
In Shillong, the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign was launched on September 16 at the Phan Nonglait Park in the city. This was followed by a march for garbage-free India.
Under this initiative, cleaning drives have been organised in different places of Shillong including Polo market, Municipal Parking lot at Mawlonghat, municipal market at Laitumkhrah, Jail Road and Police Bazar.
Capacity building specialist of the Programme Management unit of Swachh Bharat Mission, Urban Affairs, Wompher Shadap, said that the events have been organised in 141 wards under 10 urban local bodies in the state.
Expressing happiness that the response of the people to the campaign this year has been overwhelming as in Shillong many environment enthusiast groups have come forward for the campaign, Shadap said that they have also come out with the concept of decentralisation of waste management.
East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner RM Kurbah, while talking about this initiative, said that her office is taking care of the programmes in rural areas through the District Rural Development Agency, while the Shillong Municipal Board is organising a series of activities including cleaning drives in Shillong.
It was informed that the district administration has written to different Rangbah Shnongs to carry out cleaning drives in their respective localities as part of the campaign. Apart from the Headmen, the government has also roped in students and cleaning drives are also being carried out in different schools and colleges with active participation of the students.
The government is also initiating ‘Ek Taarikh – Ek Ghanta’ special programme at 10am on October 1 on ‘Shramdaan for Swachhata’ and the administration is working out on identifying localities which can participate in the event; since the day falls on a Sunday and all activities remain shut here on Sundays.
The theme of SHS-2023 is ‘Garbage Free India’ with focus on visual cleanliness and welfare of ‘Safai Mitras’. Like earlier years, the spirit of cleanliness activities is voluntarism/shramdaan.
Executive Officer of the Shillong Municipal Board, Kum M Lyttan, while speaking about this campaign said that Jiwat Vaswani, Managing Director of Jiva Hospitality of India Limited, is leading the campaign as its Brand Ambassador.
Stating that they are trying to involve youths in the campaign, Lyttan said that the Board is banking on participation of citizens to make this campaign a grand success.
Asserting that many people have the mindset of keeping everything clean confining to their homes, she added that people throw garbage brazenly in their surroundings, as a result of which, the city is already paying a heavy price. “We have to realise that it is now or never. It is a war,” she said, while adding that people’s response to the campaign is positive.
Stressing that a change will come when people start becoming agents of change, she said that activities like cleaning drives would be a continuous process and such efforts would be regularly carried out by the Board.
As environment conservation and preservation is gaining prominence, the NCC NER Directorate organized a ‘Waste to Wonder’ competition in Shillong in the run-up to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
The event saw the participation of NCC cadets from various states of the Northeast and cadets displayed innovative brilliance while making models out of waste in a bid to send a powerful message on recycling and the hazards of plastic. Ideas of reusing, recycling, waste segregation, waste reduction, sustainable use of natural resources, environmental innovations, etc., were displayed by the NCC cadets.
The cadets were felicitated for their efforts. The winners of the contest, NCC Group Shillong, were awarded a cash prize of Rs 10,000. While the first runners-up, NCC Group from Dibrugarh, was awarded a cash prize of Rs 5,000, and the second runners-up, NCC Group from Tezpur, was awarded Rs 2,000.