Cleanliness drive launched at Karimganj

 SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Silchar, Feb 11: Amidst the drive for cleanliness across the country, the remotely located border district of Karimganj in South Assam, close to Bangladesh, has taken its own initiative in this direction. Though the district ranks 347 on the tiol level of cleanliness, the Deputy Commissioner of Karimganj, Pradip Kumar Talukdar, has declared that all out efforts will be made to take the district to the higher stage of all round cleanliness and for that he sought the help and cooperation of all sections of people as well as NGOs.

 Today, a ‘safai abhiyan’ led by the Deputy Commissioner was carried out in the office premises of district administrative headquarters  and the Circuit House in close coordition with the officials and citizens early in the morning. From there, a rally with the objective of making people aware of the cleanliness drive was taken out which converged in the premises of PHE Karimganj division. A meeting was organized where the objectives of the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ were explained and elaborated by the Deputy Commissioner and Karimganj Municipal Board Chairperson, Shikha Sutradhar. Prof. Nirmal Sarkar with the help of PowerPoint presentation spoke briefly about the waste-magement, sanitation, toilet and health friendly activities, so essential for a healthy and clean living.

 Prof. Sarkar pointed out these are the three ways for living in a healthy manner for every human being, be it in town or village. This is also the scientific way that acts as detergent to bacteria, health problems and child mortality. According to all India survey, every year a huge amount of Rs.24,000 crore is wasted for health magement due to various types of diseases in human beings, mainly due to unhygienic way of living. The medical bills for getting cured are an enormous wastage of hard earned money.

 The officials, citizens and the media representatives have been encouraged to carry on the campaign for cleanliness in their own capacity and way. In the use of sanitary toilets, the district has not fared well by holding the rank of 347. It is however not a disappointing figure that 64.58% population of the border district use sanitary toilets. In order to create awareness and also motivation among the students, an art competition on the topic of waste-magement and use of toilets was organized. The response was encouraging. Three students who included Jayatri Dutta Choudhury of Rabindra Sadan Girls’ College, Madhumita Dutta of Karimganj College and Moitree Roy of Junior Science College, secured first, second and third positions respectively.