The Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution celebrated Swachhta Pakhwada from 16th to 31st May, 2017. The Secretary, Consumer Affairs, Sh. Jagdish. Prasad Meena, briefed the media on the successful completion of the Swachhta Pakhwada and informed that the Consumer can play a pivotal role in the Swachhta Mission in New Delhi .
The Pakhwada was initiated by an oath taking ceremony which was attended by the officers and staff of the Department of Consumer Affairs. The aim of the Swachhta Pakhwada observed by the Department was to spread swachhta awareness and implementation across the country with a focus on role of the Consumer in taking a leadership role for sanitation initiatives. In this direction, a series of activities were undertaken such as Nukkad Natak, slogan writing competition, poster making competition, essay writing competition, special drives for cleaning of the work place and removing of old and unwanted articles from the office premises. The Department through its own staff members performed Nukkad Natak at various places including Krishi Bhawan and INA Market.
Through Doordarshan, Lok Sabha TV, All India Radio and Private FM Channels across the country, the consumers have been informed about their responsibilities to keep the country clean, under the Jago Grahak Jago campaign.
The Secretary, Consumer Affairs also informed that the subordinate and autonomous organisations of this Department such as Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and National Test House (NTH) also undertook activities to create awareness on keeping the surrounding environment clean and emphases importance of Swachhta in day to day life.
The BIS through their Branch Offices all over the country undertook innovative work beyond the bare minimum housekeeping activities. During these awareness programmes, the students of the schools of the area were educated in the local languages on segregation of solid waste, use of dustbins for bio-degradable and non-degradable waste, and composting of bio-degradable waste. An 8 minutes film on Street Food Vendors prepared by BIS based on the Indian Standards was also screened for the students to make them conscious of hygiene conditions.
The NTH through its regional centres in Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Jaipur and Guwahati adopted School/villages/educational institution for onsite cleaning as well as imparting cleanliness awareness programmes among students and villagers.