Bhubaneswar, Oct 1 (IANS) Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday urged citizens to take individual responsibility for keeping the state capital Bhubaneswar clean, saying the city can become the cleanest and most beautiful city in the country if everyone performs their responsibility properly.
“This city belongs to all of us, and the responsibility for keeping it clean also rests with all of us. At present, Bhubaneswar ranks ninth in the country’s cleanliness ranking. If we all individually discharge our responsibilities properly, our city can become the cleanest and most beautiful city in the country and secure the first position,” CM Majhi said.
The Chief Minister was speaking while participating in the ‘Ek Din, Ek Ghanta, Ek Saath’ cleanliness programme held under the banner of ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign organised by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) at famous Khandagiri.
Urging citizens to remain conscious of their responsibility towards cleanliness, Chief Minister Majhi said people should extend the practice of keeping their homes and surroundings clean to the roads in front of their houses and their colonies.
He advised citizens to cooperate with sanitation workers by segregating wet and dry waste at home and handing it over regularly to sanitation vehicles.
He also urged people not to litter on roads and to discourage others from doing so.
Chief Minister Majhi said that Mahatma Gandhi had accorded great importance to cleanliness even before Independence.
“Since 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has transformed Mahatma Gandhi’s vision into a broad-based mass movement through the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign,” he added.
The Chief Minister also described the special ‘Ek Din, Ek Ghanta, Ek Saath’ programme as an innovative and commendable initiative to involve society in cleanliness.
He credited Safai Mitras for making Bhubaneswar cleaner and more beautiful and thanked them for their continuous service.
He said the state government was committed to ensuring their social security and providing them with housing.
Chief Minister Majhi also congratulated the BMC and Puri municipal authorities and Safai Mitras after Bhubaneswar and Puri were selected among 50 cities in the country to be developed as ‘Model Sanitation Cities’.
Odisha Housing and Urban Development Minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra, Ekamra-Bhubaneswar MLA Babu Singh and BMC Mayor Sulochana Das were among those present.
–IANS
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