Annual Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) campaign is being celebrated as a prelude to Swachh Bharat Diwas

Bhubaneswar:27/9/23: 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 focus on 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.

On 16th September, a state-level planning and coordination meeting was convened under the Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena to plan the SHS activities. The PR&DW 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 of, PR&DW Department Sanjay Kumar Singh 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 of 26.09.2023, a total of 9,551 nos of Shramdaan activities have been taken up which has witnessed the participation of 38,12,878 nos 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 Garbage Vulnerable Sites. 5,186 nos 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 7000 events have been planned in rural areas across the state.