Village aims to be cleanest in Asia

shikdamakha (Assam) — It’s a movement that began during Christmas in 2012 with a competition to select the “cleanest” family in this village. The festival-specific contest in the village, located about 80km from Assam’s largest city Guwahati, has now morphed into the ambition to win the ‘Cleanest Village in Asia’ title once held by Mawlynnong in neighbouring Meghalaya.

“Since then, we have discussed the issue. If Mawlynnong can become the cleanest village in Asia, why not us? We have everything — a village bigger than Mawlynnong with abundance of nature, beautiful landscape and very generous and hospitable people,” said Elvin Phangso, a local teacher.

To this end, the residents of Shikdamakha village in naturerich Karbi Anglong district are leaving no stone unturned to go one step ahead of Mawlynnong.

The villagers here, right from the young one to the oldest, are conscious about cleanliness and hygiene and no one litters the road in the village, not to talk of their individual houses.

Use of plastic is a strict no-no. The villagers use bamboo-made baskets for storing garbage in front of each of the 89 households and in every corner of the village, and the accumulated garbage is disposed of at regular intervals.

The residents also undertake community sweeping of the streets every week to ensure that cleanliness and a proper drainage system are in place. All households of Shikdamakha also have sanitary toilets to ensure hygiene and cleanliness.

“We have made a committee to ensure that everyone is made aware of cleanliness and hygiene. Every week, people of the village come in groups to sweep the roads and ensure that there is no stagnant water in the drains,” said Holvis Maslai, the Gaolia Gaonburah (kind of village headman) of Shikdamakha. —