Sagar (Madhya Pradesh): Urban Development and Housing Minister of Madhya Pradesh government Bhupendra Singh Thakur has said awareness level of the residents of a city should be raised to make it number one in terms of cleanliness.
Thakur made the statement in an interview with Free Press in Sagar recently.
It is not difficult to achieve the target if the residents, the voluntary organisations and the administrative officials of a city hold regular interactions and work in tandem with each other.
Maintaining cleanliness is the responsibility of the officers, as well as of those who throw garbage on roads, he said.
According to Thakur, it is necessary to learn how to dispose of garbage, which includes how to use dustbin, not to spit anywhere, to put a dustbin outside a shop, to pay attention to the place where garbage is thrown.
Besides, one must learn how to segregate dry and wet rubbish and hand it over to the garbage-collection vehicles, he said.
This is the responsibility of the citizens, because the sanitary officials do their work with efficiency and, if they get the residents’ cooperation, their work will be easier than it is now, Thakur said.
About setting up of dairies, he said that the work in giving facilities to those places where the dairies will be set up is continuing, and it will soon be over.
Those who are breaking dustbins with wrong intentions should face the music, he said, adding that there is no dearth of budget for doing creative work, and funds will be sanctioned on demand.
To a question that garbage was not being collected twice daily, the minister said that it was being done on the main roads.
If there is any problem, it will be sorted out by holding discussions with the officials, he said.
The municipal corporation is making all efforts to make Sagar the number one city in cleanliness drive, and that it will be among top ten cities in the country, Thakur added.
The minister himself monitors the development work going on in the city. According to Thakur, the officials of his department keep an eye on the quality of each development project round the clock.
Immediately after getting any complaint about any careless work, he instructs the officials concerned to rectify the errors, Thakur further said.
The residents are facing certain difficulties because of the Smart City project and that of the work being done by the municipal corporation.
Nevertheless, when the work is over, the city will look beautiful like any other metro cities in the country, he said.
(With inputs from Satish Pathak)
