MP: Bhopal admin announces cash prizes for swachhta dialogue through 'Lok Chitra'

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Swachhta dialogue with the help of folk paintings will be awarded through cash prize, Bhopal District Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) , Rituraj Singh announced on Saturday.

A public awareness campaign for cleanliness in Bhopal is underway till December 31. Under the campaign, folk paintings (Lok Chitra) are being used to spread awareness. 

CEO Singh said that for the best painting at district level, first prize of Rs.7000, second prize of Rs.5000, and third prize of Rs.3000 will be given. Similarly, at district panchayat level, first prize of Rs.3000, second prize of Rs.2000 and third prize of Rs.1000 will be awarded.

In this regard, instructions have been issued to the chief executive officers of district panchayats Phanda and Berasia. The instructions include declaring all the villages and gram panchayats of the district as ODF Plus. He said that it should be ensured that 5 cleanliness-related paintings and ODF boards are compulsorily installed in all the villages.

Talking about the campaign, Singh said that the most important task in the wall painting campaign is the selection and training of excellent local folk painters. For this, women of self-help groups have been selected from the district level as master trainers and are given training for painting and slogan writing. He instructed that the work should be completed within the time limit. 

Singh alo said that under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), a campaign has been launched to create open defecation free (ODF) rural communities through the availability and use of toilets in all the houses of the village. He said that in order to maintain cleanliness, it is necessary to continuously conduct various activities informing, educating, and communicating the community so that open defecation can be stopped completely. This campaign will be run under the leadership of the Collector under the guidance of the CEO, District Panchayat.

Singh further added that in every village, everyone should use toilets of 6 x 4 size, with wall paintings related to healthy living. The paintings will indicate benefits of using toilets, washing hands and proper disposal of garbage.