Cleaning drive to be hit for second time

SWACHH HYDERABAD

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will be busy launching Grama Jyothi in Warangal on August 17, the day meant for the mass drive in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Questions are being raised over the TRS government’s ambitious ‘Swachh Hyderabad’ campaign for the second consecutive month. The programme, which is aimed at transforming Hyderabad into one of the cleanest cities in the country, is unlikely to be taken up even in August.

Though the programme was to be held on July 17 initially, it was postponed as Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was unwell. It was then announced that it would be held on August 17 but with Chandrashekar Rao is scheduled to launch the Grama Jyothy programme in Warangal on that day, the Swachh Hyderabad programme is likely to be given a miss once again.

It may be mentioned here that the TRS government held the first Swachh drive from May 16 to May 20. Ministers, IAS and IPS officials and various Heads of Departments besides senior government officials were tasked with ‘nodal officer’ responsibilities of nearly 425 divisions in GHMC limits.

Even elected representatives of all parties took part in the drive intended to identify basic problems at ground level like lack of proper roads, drainage system, street lights, drinking water scarcity and the job of making premises clean devoid of garbage and waste material.

Buoyed by the big response from various quarters and to ensure the success of the programme, the Chief Minister decided that it should be held continuously for the next few years and later shortlisted 17 of every month. Accordingly, it was conducted for the second time on June 17. However, it was given a miss on the third occasion in July much to everyone’s surprise.

BJP MLC N Ramachander Rao, while welcoming Chandrashekar Rao’s novel idea, pointed out that it should not be put off, come what may. City Ministers could have pitched in and taken the responsibilities in case the Chief Minister was not well.

This incident showed poor preparedness of the official machinery. Authorities should have ensured that the drive was held as per the schedule. Where is the need for the Chief Minister to participate every month, he asked.

Meanwhile, Forum for Better Hyderabad president M Ved Kumar felt that Swachh Hyderabad should neither be used for political mileage nor treated as another populist scheme. Then only it would sustain and yield good results, he said.

The fact that the city residents were not involved in this drive was evident during the ten-day sanitation workers’ strike when no effort was made by the public to maintain cleanliness in the surroundings they lived in.

Without community participation, Swachh Hyderabad would not be successful, he said. The government sources, however, said that the programme was postponed due to sanitation staff’s stir and Godavari Pushkaralu.

By Mahesh Avadhutha