Assam: ‘Swachh Sarvekshan Grameen’ campaign launched

26 July 2018:

Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) Assam has launched a campaign titled "Swachh Sarvekshan Grameen" (SSG 2018). The campaign was inaugurated by Public Health Engineering Minister, Rihon Daimary, in NEDFI Convection Centre, Guwahati in the presence of Mission Director (SBM-G) Siddharth Singh and chief engineer (PHE) Saumya Kumar Baruah.

The campaign is to be held between August 1 and 31 which is being taken up at all districts covering 219 blocks.

The Minister informed that around 43 lakh families had no toilets and 28 lakh toilets were constructed till now at a cost of Rs.12, 000 per toilet. Across Assam, 12 districts were declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF). These are Baksa, Bongaigaon, Charaideo, Chirang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Hailakandi, Kamrup Metro, Majuli, Nalbari, Morigaon and Sivasagar.

The Sarvekshan will rank the states and the districts based on key qualitative and quantitative SBM-G parameters like availability and usage of toilet, sanitary awareness in villages and a direct observation by third party and citizen's feedback.

Daimary said, "I feel proud to be a part of this campaign, though some people laugh at me for engaging in such works. And we are ready to help everyone who will come forward by their will".

While interacting with locals of Rangsapara in Goalpara, he came to know that there are less literate people in that area, but they are very concerned about the cleanliness. They work very hard to make their village the cleanest one. The village has also become the centre of attraction for tourists from different countries.