Much before the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, launched Swacchata Abhiyan last year, it was two-time MLA Abhay Patil who had launched “Swacchata Belgaum Abhiyan” in Hulikavi village in the form of shramdaan in 2005. Subsequently, it was taken up in Jafarwadi village in 2007. Thereafter, realising the need and encouraged by the response from the public, he transformed it into a mission to clean up residential localities, pubic gardens and places, crematoriums and graveyards twice every month. And the mission continues.
“I and my team were in Sangli, canvassing for BJP candidates in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, when Mr. Modi launched the Swacchata Abhiyan on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, 2014. We first cleaned certain localities and switched over to canvassing to signify the importance of cleanliness and hygiene,” Mr. Patil recalled.
Thereafter, he rechristened his mission as “Swachh Belgaum Sundar Belgaum” and involved schools and colleges to take forward the objectives. His awareness programmes were minus speeches; some of them were competitions called “Campus to City” in private and government schools, cleaning classrooms, school campuses and their surroundings. For college students, he organised “One fine day”, which involved interactions with them, discussions on how to keep the college and home clean, and cleaning activities in and around colleges. Now, he has planned to organise “Kitchen to Street,” a competition for home-makers. A street play titled “Chalo Swachhata Layen” is being conducted in various parts of the city to achieve the target of 500 street plays.
Mr.Patil said the city produces over 200 tonnes of waste, which needs to be properly segregated in separate bags and disposed. His team has already started working on bringing an attitudinal change in the public against littering the roads and dumping it only in waste bins.
He has also planned a mega competition titled “Chalo Delhi, Milo Modi”, with quiz and essay competitions involving nearly 96,000 students, and it will be held later this month. Fifty winners and one parent of each student and 40 teachers will be selected for a chance to meet the Prime Minister. Efforts are underway to get an appointment with the Prime Minister.
