Hry Govt to honour villages under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin

Haryana Government has decided to honour a village in each block of the state with cash award for achieving general cleanliness under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin.
A cash award of Rs one lakh will be given to such Gram Panchayats.
The awards for July will be presented on the occasion of Independence Day on August 15, 2016.
This was stated in the first meeting of Governing Body of Haryana State Swachh Bharat Mission Society held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here today.
While reviewing various activities of the society, the Chief Minister said similar competitions should also be held among the wards in urban areas. Awards ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs two lakh should be given away in case of wards.

This would not only ensure involvement of people in maintaining sanitation but would also go a long way in inspiring the people to take up cleanliness as a way of life, he said.

He said that with a view to making sanitation a mass movement and inspire the people to join it with a missionary zeal, atleast one day in a month should be declared as sanitation day.
Khattar also reviewed the action plan to achieve the status of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin and Urban and gave necessary directions for effective implementation.
He also emphasised the arrangement of adequate number of mobile toilets at district headquarters or big towns as per the requirement.

It was informed in the meeting that a class on sanitation has been introduced in primary section of schools on a weekly basis.
It was also informed that Haryana has already achieved fairly good toilet coverage in rural areas.
The state government has fixed a target of achieving Open Defecation Free (ODF) status for all districts by December 2017.
Two districts Panchkula and Sirsa would be ODF by the end of July this year and some more would be covered by October.
So far, 1,523 gram panchayats have been declared as ODF in the state.