Chandigarh, April 18- It is the result of concerted efforts made by the Haryana Government under the Swachh Bharat Mission that today the picture of villages, towns, and cities of the state has completely changed. The Haryana State is now being recognized as a clean state. The awards received by Haryana from the Central Government and other noted institutions affirmed that Haryana has significantly excelled in the area of cleanliness. In the last few years, Haryana has received various awards in the field of cleanliness. The Haryana Government is serious about cleanliness under the leadership of Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal. It is the vision of the Chief Minister that inclusive awareness regarding ‘Swachhta’ should be ensured across every nook and corner so that both urban and rural areas excel in cleanliness. When every person starts to understand the importance of cleanliness and takes care of cleanliness around them, then our streets, village-city, and country-state will move towards cleanliness with ease. He said that cleanliness is the biggest need of the society and only with everyone's cooperation the dream of Swachh Haryana-Swachh Bharat can be materialized.

Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that we have achieved substantially under the Swachh Bharat Mission, but a lot of work is yet to be done. We have to reach every house in the state and ensure that everyone is equipped with adequate sanitation facilities and adopts hygienic practices at all times. The objective of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is not only to clean the surroundings, but with the participation of citizens, planting more and more trees, creating a garbage free environment, and creating a clean environment by providing adequate sanitation facilities.

Various awareness programmes regarding cleanliness are being run by the Haryana Government from time to time and the progress is also continuously monitored in various government offices, municipal corporations and municipal areas. The level of cleanliness is continuously improving in the state. Referring to the awards received by Haryana in the field of cleanliness, he said that Haryana ranks second in the country under Swachh Survekshan Gramin-2019. In the Swachh Survekshan-2020, Haryana ranks second in the best performing state in the country in the category of states with less than 100 urban bodies.

Haryana has got the first prize in the country for having the most ODF+ villages on Swachh Bharat Diwas-2020. Apart from this, Haryana has received State Award under Swachh Survekshan-2021. Municipal Corporation, Gurugram has been honoured with the Safai Mitra Safety Challenge Award. Municipal Corporations of Karnal, Rohtak and Gurugram have received Garbage-Free City Award. At the same time, 49 municipal bodies of the state have been certified as ODF+ and 13 municipal bodies have been certified as ODF++. The country's first integrated solid waste management power generation plant has been set up on PPP mode at Murthal, Sonipat. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, more than 1 lakh household toilets, more than 4 thousand community toilets and about 7 thousand public toilets have been constructed. In the first phase, door-to-door collection of garbage has been started in about 1,100 villages.