Puri: Making Puri a World Class Heritage City needs the citizens and the administration come together and work in tandem for the development of the city. And when it is concerned with keeping the city clean and the aim is to make Puri the cleanest one in India, it needs its citizens to pledge themselves for the same. The district administration led by Collector Balwant Singh has been taking a number of initiatives to bring together all the stakeholders for making it happen. As part of its quest for a clean Puri, the district administration organized a Sankalp Sabha under the ambit of Mo Puri – Swaccha Puri initiative.
The Puri District Administration organised an awareness programme titled “Sankalp Sabha for Mo Puri – Swaccha Puri” on Sunday at the Open Air Auditorium attended by citizens of Puri, public representatives and officials.
Speaking on the need for Swachata and the cooperation needed from all stakeholders, Collector Balwant Singh highlighted the steps needed to make it a reality. He said, “To make Puri a World Class Heritage City, the first step is to make it Swachha. And sense of sanitation is the basic necessity towards the same. We all should segregate waste and give it to the Swach Sawari (door to door waste collection vehicle). One such vehicle can collect waste of 1000-1200 waste generators. Puri Municipality has engaged 40 such vehicles for whole city coverage. These vehicles will take the segregated waste to Micro Composting centers where wet waste will be converted into compost and dry waste will again be segregated and disposed off. All these sanitation Parks (MCC) will be made by end of March 2020. Technology based monitoring ( App based attendance of sanitation workers, installation of GPS in all vehicles and QR code based monitoring of waste collection) will be key for this new SWM system.”
The Swachha Puri song created for the awareness of initiative was also launched on the occasion and New T shirts were distributed to the drivers of the Swach Sawari vehicles. As a part of its initiative to make Puri a plastic free city, the administration also launched the Branded cloth bags which will act as the alternative to plastic bags and will be distributed to every household by the Municipality free of cost.
Urging citizens to participate, Pinaki Mishra MP Puri said, “We all have to take Puri to the next level and make it a Swachha Puri. Citizens can join hands and make it the cleanest city in India. We should use biodegradable materials. A single person cannot make the city clean. We need to join in large numbers.”
The participants then took the Oath to keep Puri clean. They took oath to segregate dry and wet waste and dispose them in the garbage trucks. The oath also emphasized on discarding the use of plastic at home and outside, and take initiatives on encouraging neighbors to do the same.
The Mo Puri – Swaccha Puri awareness programme was organised as a follow up to the segregated door to door waste collection initiative by Puri (M) that is being carried out regularly at different places across Puri town. The Administration has been urging people to follow cleanliness drives and take initiatives to keep their surroundings clean as well as dispose off segregated waste in the waste collection trucks.