‘Swachh Bharat’ brings TS, AP icons together

Veteran playback singer S P Balasubramanium dedicating a song to “Swach Bharat”Abhiyan (Clean India Movement) at a meeting where the 18 personalities from both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states were made Ambassadors for Clean India Movement by the Union Minister Urban Development Housing and Poverty Alleviation M. Venkaiah Naidu in Hyderabad on Monday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

They not only shared the dais but also ideas. And their coming together was not lost on the audience.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Telangana and Andhra Pradesh icons partaking in the Swachh Bharat programme. Telangana Member of Parliament K. Kavitha and Andhra Pradesh Municipal Administration Minister Dr. A. Narayana too sat in close proximity.

The occasion was their nomination as Swachh Bharat ambassadors.

The Government of India roped in the stellar team to galvanise people to take part in clean India movement. As many as 18 iconic personalities, nine each from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, have been nominated as ‘Swachh Bharat ambassadors’ to take forward the Prime Minister’s message of clean India.

At a programme here on Monday, Union Minister for Urban Development, M. Venkaiah Naidu, announced the names of the icons from film industry, sports, media, medical fraternity and corporate sector.

The ambassadors

They are: V. Radhakrishna, Dr. S.P. Balasubramanium, Dr. G.S. Rao, B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Dr. Rameshwar Rao, Dr. Gopichand, J.A. Chowdary, actor Nitin, Ashok Teja, Koneru Humpy, Pullela Gopichand, V.V.S. Laxman and MPs - K. Kavita and Galla Jayadev.

In their acceptance address the nominees promised to do their bit for spreading the message of Swachh Bharat among people.

Singer, Balasubramanium, mesmerised the audience with a lilting song on cleanliness.

Giving an overview of the programme, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu announced central grant of Rs. 20 crore for Telangana and Rs. 10 crore for Andhra Pradesh to take up the Swachh Bharat programme.

People’s participation

He stressed on people’s participation as government alone wouldn’t be able to implement this gigantic task.

In fact, no initiative of government would succeed without people’s active participation.

Changing the mindset of people on cleanliness is important as even now 68 per cent of people indulge in open defecation. There is also an urgent need to create the necessary infrastructure.

The Swachh Bharat mission was launched on October 2 and the country should be neat and clean by 2019 to mark the 150 birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, he said.