'Swachh Darpan' rating: Udupi stands first in India

Udupi: As per the ‘Swachh Darpan’ rating under the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign, Udupi district has stood first in the whole country. The district has bagged the seventh place in the survey by the Quality Council of India. Additionally, the India Today journal has given the ‘States of State ‘ award to Udupi district.

Dinakar Babu, president of zilla panchayat shared this information at a press conference on Saturday, September 29^th.

Mr Babu gave further details on the award won by the district and said, “The district has also received the Environment award in the state level World Environment Day celebration that was held at Bengaluru, considering the substantial service rendered in the conservation of the environment in managing the solid and liquid waste resources. Minister for Panchayat Raj has appreciated the Solid Liquid Resource Management (SLRM) unit in the district. Under the Suvarna Gramodaya scheme, 145 projects have been undertaken through gram panchayat and an amount of Rs 8.30 crore is already spent for the same. Under the ‘Chief Minister’s Gram Vikas Yojana’ a grant of Rs 651 lakh was received out of which Rs 313 lakh is spent for the maintenance of 208.69 km length of road area,” he explained.

Expressing his unhappiness over the government policy on sports Dinkar said, “We did not get permission and order from the state government to conduct the Dasara sports meet this year. Though we have received a grant of Rs 1.5 lakh for sports kit and uniforms for three taluks of the district, we are not in a position to use the same. Zilla panchayats get government grants once in a while. Now we are unable to use the grant provided due to the policy of the government.”

“We will start the ‘Plastic-free District’ campaign very soon. First, this will be implemented in the taluk of Karkala and subsequently all the other taluks of the district will be covered under the programme,” he informed giving details on making the district plastic free.

Mathru Poorna scheme

Sheela K Shetty, vice-president of the zilla panchayat gave details on Mathru Poorna scheme and said, “Out of the 1,191 Anganawadi centers that are functioning in the district, 1,012 have own buildings. Own Buildings for 57 Anganwadis are under construction. 7,997 beneficiaries have been provided ‘Bisi Oota’ under the Mathru Poorna scheme.”

President of the standing committee Babu Shetty spoke on the occasion and said, “The district has stood first in the SSLC examination with a pass percentage of 88.30%. There are 85,592 beneficiaries in the district under the ‘Ksheera Bhagya/Akshara Dasoha’ scheme and an amount of Rs 2,107.93 lakh is spent for the same from the grant of Rs 3049.72 lakh that was released. Under RTE, 1351 seats have been reserved in 93 unaided schools and 1003 students are admitted under this scheme to the schools. The repair of 121 government school buildings is carried out at a cost of Rs 1crore. 10 Registered unions have been distributed with sports accessories. Schools have been given grants and talented sportspersons are given incentives.”