VIJAYAWADA: Making it clear that the Swachh Andhra programme does not belong to any individual or organisation, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wanted the active participation of all people in it.
“Setting goals alone will not help, but plans should be implemented effectively to realise them,” the Chief Minister said at a review meeting held at the State Secretariat on Friday.
He stressed on the implementation of an action plan for promoting sanitation, besides setting the highest standards. The State government has been organising special Swachh Andhra and Swarna Andhra programme every third Saturday of the month. “Taking a separate theme for every month, the Swachh Andhra - Swarna Andhra programme is being implemented to create awareness among people about cleanliness,” the Chief Minister said.
While ‘New Year Clean Start’ was the theme of January, this month it is ‘Source-Resource’, the Chief Minister said, and made it clear that focus should be on how to achieve development by utilising the resources in the State to get to our roots and strengths.
Naidu is very particular that a goal has to be set for increasing the living standards, encouraging tourism, attracting investments and taking the climate of the State to Net Zero, besides achieving sustainable development goals.
He also directed the officials to move towards total cleanliness, prioritise sanitation, public health, solid waste management and also work towards achieving the targets set by the Centre.
“Everyone should realise that Swachh Andhra means clean people with an ethical mindset, neat environment, clean houses, neat colonies and villages. Along with residences, open areas, schools, colleges and government offices, the places of worship and industries too should be kept clean,” Naidu said.
To achieve this every individual, every employee, all organisations and all systems should work and this should not be viewed as an issue confined only to one particular department or officer, Naidu opined.
The Chief Minister underlined the need for bringing radical changes in government offices and for which all employees in various offices should join hands for maintaining cleanliness and a friendly atmosphere.
Simply giving slogans that greenery should be maintained, while throwing waste on roads and cutting trees, will no longer be allowed, he said.
The Chief Minister said if all the citizens take the responsibility, the Swachh Andhra dream can easily be realised. The officials of the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board should focus on such matters, he stressed.
The officials explained to the Chief Minister the progress of the programmes taken up by the Urban Development Department and the Panchayat Raj wing as part of Swachh Andhra - Swarna Andhra, particularly the targets set in 14 indicators.
They highlighted the construction of individual toilets, public toilets, door-to-door collection of waste, solid waste segregation, clean village concept and other initiatives.
Ranks have been awarded to the districts based on the progress achieved in all these 14 indicators.
NTR district stood first by earning 129 points out of 200, while Visakhapatnam got second place with 127 points. Alluri Sitarama Raju district figured last in the list earning 26th place with just 81 points.