Port Blair, Oct 04: The Swachh Bharat Diwas, 2020 was celebrated yesterday on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti with the distribution of Swachh Bharat Puraskar by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. The Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Mr. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Mr. Rattan Lal Kataria conferred the Swachh Bharat (2020) Awards to the best performing States/UTs, districts, blocks, GPs and others in various categories and campaigns yesterday marking six years of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) launch.
The awards were given at a virtual ceremony organized by Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) and saw the online participation by Central, State and District Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBMG) officials. The Nicobars District of A&N Islands was conferred with the Special Achievement Award under the District Category, for e x e m p l a r y performance during the S a m u d a y i k Shauchalaya Abhiyan (SSA) conducted by the Ministry from 15th June to 15th September, 2020. On behalf of the UT, the award was received by Mr. Kishore Kshirsagar Laxman, Deputy C o m m i s s i o n e r , Nicobars District.
The Lieutenant Governor, A&N Islands, Admiral D K Joshi, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, NM, VSM (Retd.) congratulated the Rural Development Department and the team in Nicobars District for the achievement and exhorted them to work with the public with even more vigour and enthusiasm to achieve the goals of Swachh Bharat and Swachh A &N Islands, at the earliest.
The campaign was launched by the Ministry in the backdrop of challenging sanitation and hygiene situation in the critical time of COVID19 pandemic resulting in large scale migration of labourers, back to their native places throughout the country, thereby providing the need for proper sanitation facilities in the villages. The campaign aimed to provide sanitation access to migrants and floating population through CSCs, sustain usage, increase the sense of ownership within the village, and ensure construction and maintenance of community toilets while following all safety and hygiene protocols, to promote community health.