“The Prime Minister’s call for ‘Ek Tareekh Ek Ghanta Ek Saath’ could be the world’s largest voluntary effort for a cleaner India in which over 6.4 lakh sites have been adopted for shramdaan from urban and rural India,” said Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri.
“‘Ek Tareekh Ek Ghanta Ek Saath’ is specifically about hardcore cleanliness activities – shramdaan for swachhata. This is not about pledges, plog runs, rangoli competitions, wall paintings, nukkad nataks. Shramdaan is only for cleanliness drives across the nation,” emphasized Puri.
On the 105th episode of Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister appealed for 1 hour of shramdaan for swachhata at 10 am on October 1 by all citizens collectively as a ‘swachhanjali’ to Mahatma Gandhi on the eve of his Jayanti.
This mega cleanliness drive calls upon citizens from all walks of life to join in actual cleaning activities at public places like market spaces, railway tracks, water bodies, tourist locations, places of worship etc., resulting in visible cleanliness.
While interacting with media on ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ on Friday (September 29), Puri said that over 6.4 lakh sites have been adopted for shramdaan from urban and rural India.
The mega cleanliness drive aims to clean Garbage Vulnerable Points, railway tracks and stations, airports and surrounding areas, roadsides – Stretches of National and State Highways, water bodies, ghats, slums, under bridges, market spaces, backlanes, places of worship, tourist spots, bus stands/toll plazas, zoos and wildlife areas, gaushalas, hills, beaches, ports, residential areas, anganwadis, schools/colleges etc.
In order to facilitate the swachhata events, urban local bodies (ULB), towns, gram panchayats, ministries have added events for swachhata shramdaan on the Swachhata Hi Seva – Citizens Portal.
Citizens can view the cleanliness events nearest to them on this specially-architected IT platform and join to participate. At various locations of cleanliness, citizens can click pictures during the shramdaan for swachhata and upload on the portal. The portal also hosts a section inviting citizens, influencers to join the andolan and lead the people’s movement by becoming Swachhata Ambassadors.
The Minister informed the media that a large number of Resident Welfare Associations have come forward to volunteer for shramdaan in nearly 1 lakh residential areas while village communities have come forward to adopt around 35,000 anganwadi centres all over the nation. NGOs, market associations, SHGs, faith groups, trade bodies, private sector etc. have come forward to do shramdaan in 22,000 market areas, 10,000 water bodies, nearly 7,000 bus stands/toll plazas, nearly 1000 gaushalas, nearly 300 zoos & wildlife areas and various locations that will have mega cleanliness drives in rural and urban India.
Adding further, the Minister said that in a first of its kind, army, navy, air force will be coming together with civilians to clean up various garbage vulnerable places, railway tracks, heritage buildings, step-wells, forts.
Large stretches of the National Highway are being adopted for cleanliness by lead groups like Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth and other local communities. Many coastal regions will be taken up for swachhata by eminent groups led by Afroz Shah and Sudrashan Patnaik. Sulabh international has come forward to adopt Community and Public Toilets for cleaning on October 1.
Puri noted that various associations have come forward to clean museums, monuments and forts across the nation. As part of the cleanliness drive in schools/colleges, Mata Amritaanandamayi’s Amma Foundation will offer shramdaan for swachhata in schools across the country.
Pradeep Sangwan’s Healing Himalayas has come forward to clean the Himalayan trail in Uttarakhand. ISKCON Temple association has come forward to adopt temple areas for cleanliness drives and Ramakrishna Math will be adopting math areas for shramdaan.
Other organizations like FICCI, CII, CREDAI, NGOs like Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva, Lions Club, Rotary club, UNICEF, Aga Khan foundation, etc. will join the action on October 1.
Among the States, Uttar Pradesh has adopted over 1 lakh sites for cleanliness drives, whereas Maharashtra will be conducting cleanliness drives in over 62,000 locations with citizens joining the shramdaan at beaches, religious places, schools/colleges.
Madhya Pradesh is all set to spring in action on 1st Oct from nearly 57,000 locations, whereas Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have planned shramdaan in nearly 40,000 and 35,000 locations respectively. Union Cabinet Ministers, MPs, several Chief Ministers along with Mayors, Sarpanches and political leadership will join the citizen-led mega cleanliness drive too.
In Delhi, under the NDMC, Art of Living and Chintan will be joining the shramdaan for cleaning slums and other areas. Over 500 sites under MCD have also been adopted for cleanliness drives.