Bhubaneswar: The annual Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) campaign is being celebrated as a prelude to Swachh Bharat Diwas under the joint aegis of DDWS and MoHUA between 15th September to 2nd October 2023.
The theme of SHS-2023 is ‘Garbage Free India’ with a focus on the visual cleanliness and welfare of Safai Mitras.
Odisha conducted the state-level launch of SHS 2023 on 15th September in which CDOs of all 30 districts and BDOs of all 314 blocks participated along with their District and Block teams.
A state-level planning and coordination meeting was convened on 16th September and was chaired by the Chief Secretary to plan the SHS activities. The Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department which is the nodal department for SBM-G issued necessary guidelines on the celebration of SHS- 2023 campaign in line with the joint advisory issued by DDWS, MoJS and MoHUA.
Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department stated, “We are taking this opportunity to increase the cleanliness in Odisha by conducting various activities like shramdaan, awareness rallies etc.”
Since 17th September, all the districts have launched the campaign at district, block and GP level and various activities have already been taken up. In line with the spirit of SHS, a kaleidoscope of activities has been planned during the fortnightly campaign.
Special focus has been on promoting the concept of “Zero-Food Waste” during Ganesh Puja and Nuakhai along with safe disposal of idols and garbage-free sites post celebrations.
As on September 26, a total of 9,551 Shramdaan activities have been taken up which has witnessed the participation of 38,12,878 number of people. This includes activities of Beach and Riverside cleaning, Cleaning of legacy waste sites, Public places, Institutional buildings such as Schools, Anganwadis, Panchayat Ghar, Cleaning of Garbage Vulnerable Sites. 5,186 number of mass mobilization activities of Swachhta pledge, Swachhta run, Human chain formation and Samvaad with various categories have been organized in which, 28,89,470 nos of people have participated.
Moreover, 438 nos of Special Gramsabhas have been organized during this time period to disseminate IEC messages on Swachhta.
Odisha being a major tourist destination, cleaning drives of the tourist places were also carried out on 27th September (World Tourism Day) in around 180 tourist sites. On 1st October, under the “Ek Tareekh Ek Ghanta Ek Saath” initiative, over 7,000 events have been planned in rural areas across the state.
