News Brief
Swachh Teerth Advisory To Uttarakhand, Jammu And Kashmir, And Odisha
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, in the advisory, specifies various initiatives to be taken for sanitation and waste management to ensure high level of cleanliness for Kedarnath, Amarnath and Rath yatris.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Manoj Joshi
The centre has asked the states of Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha to take urgent steps to ensure that the ongoing Kedarnath Yatra and upcoming Amarnath Yatra and Rath Yatra are conducted in a manner so as to ensure high levels of cleanliness.
In this regard, Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Manoj Joshi has written to the Chief Secretaries of Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha.
The communication from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs specifies various initiatives to be taken for sanitation and waste management. The states have been requested to provide for sufficient numbers of public toilets for both men and women throughout the approach roads to the shrines, and ensure that they are kept clean, hygienic and usable at all times.
All eateries along the approach roads will need to be sensitised about garbage collection, in-situ processing of the food waste through waste to compost/waste to biogas units in their premises, usage of biodegradable cutlery and bags.
The advisory suggests that plastics and SUPs should be stopped at the base-camp level for Kedarnath and Amarnath yatris at the time of registration itself. In order to prevent indiscriminate littering by visitors, segregated litter bins will have to be placed along the approach roads, along with regular emptying of the same.
National teams from MoHUA are being deputed to Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha starting this week to take stock of the preparations underway and also to provide inputs for improving sanitation and garbage management. Video-conferencing meeting has been scheduled early next week to discuss with state, city and district officials to discuss the preparedness.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 89th Mann Ki Baat address to the nation on 29 May 2022, had expressed his concern regarding the heap of filth in Kedarnath. He made an appeal for maintaining the dignity of these pilgrimage sites through purity and cleanliness, as it is imperative that we abide by the resolution of cleanliness.
Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban, being implemented by MoHUA, is committed to create “Garbage Free Cities” through comprehensive sanitation measures, and safe management of solid and liquid waste in all statutory towns in the country. Centers of Pilgrims and Heritage where the footfalls are higher are taken up on priority under the Mission.
