Strict rules reason for cleanest city feat: Indore MP Shankar
Source: Chronicle News Service / Longjam Arishrona

Imphal, January 15 2024: "Schools and students were made brand ambassador of cleanliness, and even my family members were slapped fine for flouting rules in order to make Indore the cleanest city, " said Indore MP Shankar Lalwani as he narrated how his hometown bagged the cleanest city award for seven consecutive times in the Swachhhata Survekshan campaign.

A team of journalists from Manipur, who were on a media tour to Madhya Pradesh sponsored by PIB Imphal and PIB Bhopal under the aegis of Ministry of information and broadcasting, met MP Shankar Lalwani at his residence on the second day of the tour.

The MP said that the country had a renewed sense of cleanliness after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and launched the Swachh Bharat Mission.

While PM Modi is making efforts to instil the habit of cleanliness advocated by Mahatma Gandhi through the mission, Indore has been making its efforts to translate the mission into action.

The city took a stand, irrespective of opposition or ruling, common people or bureaucrat officers, to make cleanliness its motto under the slogan of Clean India.

In order to achieve the target, the city had witnessed over 1000 meetings with different sections of the society over the years, he said.

Through this people's effort, Indore, which was once known for piles of garbage, is now witnessing transformation and winning the cleanest city award under Swachh Survekshan for seven consecutive times.

Among others, students played major role in keeping the city clean as the brand ambassadors of Clean India Mission.

Resolutions were passed to impose fine on anybody violating rules for maintaining cleanliness ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 5000, he said.

Recounting how the city authority implement the rules and enforce them strictly, the MP said that when he was the chairman of Indore Development Authority, his younger brother was caught throwing garbage on the road.

His brother tried to argue with the officer identifying himself, and he even called him (MP) over the phone to report the mat ter.

He phoned the officer and asked him to penalise the younger sibling saying that the officer will be suspended in case of any laxity.

He then told the media team that nobody, including family members of ministers, MLAs or MPs, are above the law, and it is this resolve that makes Indore win the award seven times.

MP Shankar also said that people of Indore, now, have developed a habit of cleanliness by making it an inseparable part of their lives.

Similarly, people across the country need to change their thinking and take a firm stand, he added.

Mentioning about Vikshit Bharat Sangkalp Yatra (VBSY), the MP said that Out of 544 targeted Yatras, around 250 have been completed and the campaign is generating widespread support from the public.

People are reaping benefits of schemes like PM Svanidhi, PMAY, Ayushman Gard among others.

So far, over 98,000 people have been provided free health checkup services, and the city is targeting to achieve saturation in Jal Jeevan Mission by the end of the current month, he said.

The MP also informed that the union health minister himself visited Indore recently and launched a survey of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), during which the minister said that the model in MP will be adopted on pan-India basis.

The journalists' team also told the MP about the Chief Minister's Health for All (CMHA) scheme under which, free door-to-door screening programmes for NCDs are being taken up in Manipur, and persons found suffering from NCDs during the survey are referred to tertiary hospitals for providing free treatment.

The team also visited Ra-jwada Palace and Chhappan Shop on the day.

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