Swachh drive to highlight municipal workers' efforts

The Union Urban Development Ministry aims to highlight the "efforts of the unsung heroes" - the municipal workers - during its fortnightly thematic drive under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).
The focus of the drive, scheduled from July 16 to 31, is on municipal workers and to spread awareness about their efforts to ensure cleanliness in the society, an official release said today.
Through this drive, the ministry aims to highlight the efforts of Municipal workers and recognise them as one of the key pillars of SBM, it said.
To make the thematic drive more vibrant, the ministry is encouraging citizens to tie friendship bands to municipal workers, share a meal with them or present some gifts to them, as a mark of appreciation for their efforts, it added.

"We introduced fortnightly thematic drives to increase citizen participation in the mission; today, we have reached a milestone. We are requesting the citizens to appreciate the efforts of the unsung heroes," said Praveen Prakash Mission Director and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development.
As part of the drive, the urban local bodies will provide new uniforms including shoes, gloves and safety kits to the municipal workers. Also, multiple health camps will be organised across the country for all the municipal workers, the release said.
In a letter to all state mission directors and Municipal Commissioners of 75 cities, Prakash asked them to reach out to media for covering various events associated with the drive.

Each press clipping and video clip would be awarded 1 and 3 points respectively and these will be counted in the final scores in the next round of 'Swachh Survekshan' to be conducted in January next year, he said.