Minister for Housing & Urban Development Sat Sharma has hailed Civic authorities for achieving major breakthrough in maintaining cleanliness in holy Katra town after it launched a proactive campaign for door to door collection of waste material.“During the past two months, focus has been laid on making the holy township polythene free and effectively regulate disposal of waste material,” Minister said while expressing satisfaction at a function organized by Municipal Committee Katra.The Minister was on a visit to Katra as a part of his acquaintance process about ongoing developmental works in and around surroundings of Jammu city.The Minister of State for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Finance, Planning, Law & Justice, Relief & Rehabilitation and Labour & Emp, Agriculture, Floriculture and Horticulture Mr. Ajay Nanda, Financial Commissioner, Housing & Urban Development Department Mr. K.B Aggarwal, Director, Urban Local Bodies, Jammu Mrs. Sushma Chauhan , Deputy Commissioner, Reasi, Mr. Prasanna Ramaswamy G , C.E.O’s Katra Development Authority and Municipal Committee, Katra, besides members of Civil Society were present on the occasion.Addressing the gathering, the Minister appreciated the initiatives of Municipal Committee, Katra for checking the menace of polythene and door to door collection of household waste adding that such drives be made a regular feature for keeping the Holy Town pollution free.Sat Sharma asked the officers of Municipal Committee, Katra for achieving the target of construction of Individual Household Latrines(IHHL) by the end of June 2018.He said new machinery would be provided to MC, Katra for keeping drainage network clean.
He appreciated the role of Safai Karamcharis for putting in their sincere efforts during the ongoing polythene free Katra drive and checking the menace of polythene. He also felicitated the Safai Karamcharis of Municipal Committee, Katra who have done commendable job during the drive.To get feedback from the members of Civil Society on the development front, an interactive session was also organized in which the locals projected and gave suggestions for achieving holistic development of the town.Ajay Nanda, in his address, listed various initiatives taken for the development of Katra Town. He assured every possible help for the development of Katra Town.Director Urban Local Bodies Jammu, Sushma Chauhan presented a brief resume of the new initiatives taken under Swachh Bharat Mission for door to door collection of waste and making Katra polythene free. She further apprised that efforts are on to achieve the ODF status within a timeline for most of its Municipal Committees. She informed that DULB was in process of procuring mobile toilets with in-built Digestor which would not only help to achieve requirements of ODF status, but also support ongoing sanitation activities of MC, Katra.The Minister was shown live demonstration of house to house collection of solid waste through outsourced third-party agency, which was started in this month in Katra. He was also appraised that the same services have also been started in 9 other ULBs of Jammu.Later, the Minister convened a meeting of officers to review the functioning of Municipal Committee, Katra and Katra Development Authority.