BONGAIGAON: Rangsapara village comes first when one talks of cleanliness in Assam! Yes, this hamlet under Agia police station in Goalpara district is the cleanest village in Assam – a status it attained in 2016.
The village, just 5 km from Agia town, is an alluring tourist spot. Had there been no communication bottlenecks, tourists’ footfall in the village would have quite impressive. The village has not attained this prestigious status overnight. The social movement towards cleanliness started way back in 1990 in the village.
Talking to the media, gaon burha of the village Robert John Momin said: “We’ve a population of around 510 from 92 households in our village. We’re all Garos with Christianity as faith. After my taking charge as the head of the village, we started cleanliness drives. Our first attempt was doing away with open defecation. We started latrines in each and every household to stop the menace. By 2000, toilets were constructed in all houses of the village. In 2015, with the help of government funds all kutcha toilets in our village were converted to sanitary ones”.
The village also adopted some strict rules to say no to tobacco products, alcohol and other toxic materials. “We banned consumption and sale of tobacco products, alcohol and other toxic materials in our village. If anybody is found selling or consuming such items inside the village, we slap him with Rs 5,000 as fine. Now our village is completely free from such products,” Momin said.
This village was awarded by the Government of Assam as the cleanest village of the State in 2016. There is a blanket ban on plastic products in the village to keep it clean. Even spitting in the open is restricted here. Use of dustbin is mandatory for every family. The villagers clean their houses and campuses every day. While men clean public places like roads and community halls on Wednesday, women clean public places on Saturday.
“However, the major problem that afflicts our village is communication. The main road to our village is a kutcha one. Our village has much potential to become an attractive tourist spot, but due to poor road communication, the flow of tourists is yet to pick up. We’ve appealed to Goalpara district administration to pay attention to our communication bottleneck. We’ve been assured of taking steps towards that end,” Momin said.
Also Read: Top Headlines