To boost cleanliness, publicise cities lagging behind: PM Modi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 17

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for healthy competition between cities for cleanliness. He mooted the idea of publicising a list of cities where a blind eye had been turned to the cleanliness campaign so as to build public pressure on the authorities there to work.

Nudge local authorities to work

Prepare a list of cities that have kept their eyes closed… There will be so much pressure from the public that everybody will want to work. — Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Inaugurating the All-India Mayors’ Conference in Varanasi via videoconferencing, PM Modi said the cleanness drive should not be an annual affair and asked the mayors to host a monthly inter-ward contest on beautification and cleanliness.

He asked if there could be new categories for recognising the cities that were making the best efforts to achieve cleanliness along with the best performing cities.

He said in several cities, rivers got ruined in due course. “We have to adopt a sensitive approach towards rivers,” he told the conference on the theme of New Urban India.

Lauding the role played by street vendors during the pandemic, Modi told the mayors, “We have brought PM Svanidhi Yojana for the vendors. Make a list of such vendors and train them in digital transactions. This will facilitate bank finance for them on much better terms.”

As many as 120 mayors are participating in the conference. The PM exhorted them to build their political career using the opportunity they had got the serve the people.

He said the political journey of Sardar Patel, who rose to become the Deputy PM, had also started with the post of Mayor of Ahmedabad. “The post can be a stepping stone for a successful political career,” he said. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Hardeep Puri were among those present.