Kamakhya temple clean-up initiative kicked off in Assam

Guwahati (Assam) [India], Sept. 21 (ANI): A formal launch of the Clean-Up action plan for Kamakhya Temple as a part of Swachh Bharat Mission was organized in Guwahati, Assam yesterday by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in association with the Government of Assam. The programme was launched by the Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation, Narendra Singh Tomar and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. As a symbol of cleanliness, advanced sweeping machines were inaugurated in the premises of the temple on the occasion. During the launch, Sonowal expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for selecting Kamakhya Temple as one of the 10 iconic places in Phase one of the clean-up initiative of 100 iconic places under the Swachh Bharat Mission. He requested the people of Assam to help realize the vision of the Prime Minister to make the holy place the cleanest place in India and added that this would be a real tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. Tomar said that the Ministry is fully committed to providing all the required support in making the selected iconic places "Swachh", and that the process has been formally launched under the blessings of Ma Kamakhya Devi. He assured that all the 10 iconic sites will become models of cleanliness in a time bound manner. During the launch, Chief Secretary of Assam made a presentation on the action plan prepared for the three, six, nine and 12 months' timeframe. He also requested Sonowal to constitute a monitoring committee for the temple clean-up work and volunteered to chair the committee. He concluded by highlighting that the Assam Government was the first in the launching the programme and will also complete the implementation the earliest. The Government of India, through its Swachh Bharat 'Clean India' Mission has proposed a multi-stakeholder initiative focusing on cleaning up 100 places across India that are iconic due to their heritage, spiritual and/or cultural significance. Ten places have been selected as a pilot for learning and demonstration basis. These 10 places are some of the most historically, spiritually and culturally significant heritage places of India, including: Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Ajmer (Rajasthan), Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai (Maharashtra), Golden Temple in Amritsar (Punjab), Jagannath Temple in Puri (Odisha), Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati (Assam), Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Meenakshi Temple in Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Taj Mahal in Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams in Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) and Vaishno Devi in Katra (Jammu and Kashmir). (ANI)