Packing A Punch

Puducherry outshines the bigger, richer states with its successes on the health, swachhta and farming fronts.

- Kaushik Deka

In the current political environment, where vitriol has become an integral part of discourse between rival politicians, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s congratulatory message last month to Puducherry’s Congress Chiefminister V. Narayanasamy was a welcome aberration. “Narayanasamyji, kudos to you for leading from the front and inspiring others to strengthen the movement to clean India,” Modi tweeted after Narayanasamy’s video, in which he is seen entering a clogged drain barefoot with a shovel in hand to clear the blockage, went viral.

The video was part of Modi’s ‘Swachhata hi seva’ movement launched ahead of Gandhi Jayanti. Narayanasamy’s hands-on approach on swachhata has left a stamp across Puducherry. “The central government chose 52 schools across the country with the best cleanliness record. Seven of them are from Puducherry,” Narayanasamy told India today. “One school from Puducherry topped the list, scoring 100 per cent.”

Though their bitter feuds have often made headlines, the chief minister and Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi seem to be working in tandem on this mission. Spotting garbage dumped in the premises of the power department’s main office recently, Bedi ordered an immediate clean-up with the help of the office staff and even directed them to ensure that the premises remained neat and tidy.

Puducherry has already been declared open defecation-free (ODF). Till date, 27,965 household toilets have been built in the rural parts; in the urban areas, 935 household toilets and 57 community toilets have been constructed. The focus is now on maintaining the ODF status. With door-to-door waste collection and a scientific processing and disposal of waste, Puducherry aims to successfully achieve ‘ODF+’ and ‘ODF++’ status under the Swachh Bharat Mission.