NEW DELHI: Ahead of its mega cleanliness survey involving 4,302 cities, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has come out with a comprehensive communication strategy aimed at targeted communication vis-a-vis awareness creation, sensitisation and mobilisation in order to influence positive behavioural changes.
“It is essential to carry out a 360-degree communication campaign around the survey, with the objective of motivating citizens to participate in Swachh Survekshan, as well as engage in activities that can help their cities score well in the survey,” said a letter written by the ministry recently to state authorities.
Under the communication strategy, different sets of target audience have been identified to spread awareness on various components of the Swachh mission, such as open defecation, solid waste management, community and public toilet etc.. There are also specific messages for offices, hotels, restaurants, schools etc. to create awareness on waste management.
Separate teams will be formed for identification of open defecation spots. They will be trained for creating awareness for maximum impacts. Street theatres will be held at such spots to engage citizens in the exercise.
This time, the ministry has introduced negative marking to ensure that cities do not make false claims about sanitation infrastructure. If the claims of a city about any parameter are found to be incorrect by independent assessors, it will get zero marks for that parameter. Also, it will attract 33 per cent negative marking on the total obtained marks. Detailing the changes in assessment weightages, officials said the weightage of citizen feedback has been increased to 35 per cent.
Communication strategy for creating awareness
Different sets of target audience identified to spread awareness on various components of Swachh mission, including open defecation, solid waste management, community and public toilet etc. These include: