‘DIRTIEST’ CITY DHANBAD MAKES SWACCHTA SONG MUST IN SCHOOL

DHANBAD: Students of government schools in Dhanbad, Jharkhand’s coal city, will soon have to recite two songs at their morning assembly.

While one is the already existing prayer thanking the Almighty, the other would be a melodic pledge to keep the surroundings clean and hygienic — in keeping with the Centre’s Swachh Bharat campaign.

Mooted by the district administration, the swachhta song is being composed by various experts in the field of music in consultation with the district drinking water and sanitation department.

“School children can play a significant role in the ongoing cleanliness campaign. Singing the swachhta song after the school prayers will inspire them to adopt hygienic practices, and it will eventually reflect on society as a whole,” said A Dodde, Dhanbad deputy commissioner.

Dhanbad, dubbed as the country’s dirtiest city in the Swachh Sarvekshan list released by the Union government in February this year, desperately wants to scrub its image clean. Its citizenry has joined hands with the local administration to improve cleanliness and hygiene levels. NGOs are exhorting citizens to clean the streets of waste and grime accumulated through years of negligence.

Besides taking out rallies aimed at discouraging indiscriminate littering, school and college students are picking up brooms to sweep slums and populated bastis. The administration, for its part, has deputed a magistrate for every three wards to supervise the campaign.

The Dhanbad Municipal Corporation plans to construct 70,000 toilets by March 2017 in an attempt to end open defecation.

The municipal corporation has also prepared a detailed project report for solid waste management, given that the city generates 300 metric tonnes of garbage every day.

“However, none of these initiatives will work if our children do not take the cleanliness campaign forward,” Dodde said.

Sushil Kumar, executive engineer of the drinking water and sanitation department, said he has been asked to prepare the song and ensure that it is recited at all the schools in coordination with the district education department.

“We have been asked to execute the directive in rural schools too, in coordination with panchayats,” he added.

Dhanbad education officer Madhuri Kumari described the initiative as an “innovative idea”.

“Once ingrained in their minds, children can play a major role in changing the mindset of people in rural as well as urban locations,” she said.

Arti Kumari, a Class 8 student of the Dhaiya government middle school, said the swachhta song will go a long way in creating awareness among children.

“It does not cost any time or money either,” said Kumari, who has been appointed as the swachhta mantri of the school parliamentary committee.