Telangana government prods Urban Local Bodies to rev up sanitation drive

Hyderabad: Government on Thursday asked the officials in the Urban Local Bodies to gear up to take up massive sanitation campaign in their municipalities from June 1 to 8 as part of the intensive sanitation drive.

Municipal Administration Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar along with director Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration Satyanarayana had a video conference with the additional collectors, municipal commissioners and officials of urban local bodies here on Thursday.

Arvind Kumar asked the officials to ensure taking up special cleanliness drive in areas wherever garbage is accumulated for months together. "All debris should be removed, drains desilted and road side bushes and shrubs should be cleared. Similarly the areas have to be identified where the construction and demolition waste is accumulated for months and work out strategy to clean up the waste," said Arvind Kumar.

The MAUD secretary asked the officials to identify low lying areas in localities, slums and roadsides where water is accumulated or forms a cess pool and fill them up so that no stagnation takes place. "All the public toilets should be cleaned and made functional by the end of the sanitation drive. Construction of public toilets should also be taken up. He reiterated that the 'Every Sunday 10 AM ten minutes' programme should be taken up for emptying of water tanks and other dumped containers as a precautionary measure for containment of vector and water borne diseases. As part of this initiative, all ward members, Residents' Welfare Association members and other Association members have to be involved for taking up cleaning exercise of their locality. People have to be motivated to adopt and own up the programme, he added.

Arvind Kumar directed the commissioners to take up anti-larval measures in the municipalities to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. Proper chlorination of all water sources should be ensured, identification of vacant areas which are becoming dump yards should be identified and they should be cleaned, he said.

He urged the officials to completely involve the public representatives and Residents' Welfare Association members in the intensive sanitation drive to make it a peoples' participatory movement. He also advised them to strategise for taking up plantation in open spaces, schools, parks or road sides as part of the Haritha Haram programme.