Girl Students Inspire Sweeping Change In Odisha Village

Berhampur: Two girl students have inspired their fellow villagers to keep their surroundings clean by voluntary sweeping the roads, temples and other places littered with garbage at their village in Ganjam district.

Every morning, M Sibani Dora and E Sandhya Dora of Krupasindhupalli in Patrapur block step out with brooms and undertake cleaning of the village.

“People in urban areas are more conscious about sanitation due to several cleanliness campaigns. However, no such drives are launched in villages. So we have undertaken this task voluntarily to create awareness about the importance of sanitation,” Sandhya said.

Their drive has now inspired other students and villagers to carry on the drive. “We need to learn from the two girls that keeping the environment clean is an important part of our lives,” said a villager.

Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched a “Mu Safaiwala’” programme involving around 100,000 school students in the state capital.

The students have taken a pledge to be messengers of cleanliness and also try to make their parents and kin aware about the basic “mantra” of cleanliness.

Besides the pledge, the participants have also filled a questionnaire to assess cleanliness distributed in the schools.

Interestingly, there will be 100 marks per questionnaire. If a student scores more than 80 marks, then he/she will be considered as “Mu Safaiwala” and a score of less than 80 will earn a student the tag “Mu Aliawala” (one who creates filth).

“Through the questionnaire a student will get awareness, make his/her parents and relatives aware and the output will be calculated accordingly. If suppose in a school more than 60 per cent marks from the questionnaire are below 80, then we will have to rethink about the awareness drive under Mu Safaiwala in that particular school. We will then go for another round of awareness drive so that the students will understand the important things on cleanliness and Swachh Bharat initiative,” said a BMC official.

At a public gathering at Satyanagar in Bhubaneswar, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the “Mu Safaiwala” programme with bush and colours. More than 300 students from different schools had also taken part in wall painting, branding of the mascot of “Mu Safaiwala”and taking the pledge.