Minister of State for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Forest and Animal Husbandry, Abdul Majeed Padder, Thursday called for mass awareness regarding importance of hygiene and proper sanitation measures in rural areas.The Minister stated this at a function organized in connection with Global Hand washing (GHD) Day at D.H Pora, here.Mr. Padder said GHD is a campaign to motivate and mobilize people around and promote hand-washing habits among them. The campaign is dedicated to raise awareness with regard to washing hands with soap as a key approach to disease prevention.The Minister said that the campaign was initiated to reduce childhood mortality rates related respiratory and diarrheal diseases by introducing simple behavioral changes, such as washing hands with soap.
Mr. Padder said it is also a religious obligation to maintain cleanliness and a hygienic atmosphere in and around so. He said Global Hand-washing Day provides an opportunity to increase awareness and importance about washing hands with soap in an effective manner to prevent disease spread and save lives.On the occasion, Mr. Padder announced Rs 7.50 lakh from his CDF for Government Higher Secondary School for improving various facilities for students there.During the function, school students presented variety of programmes in connection with Global Hand Washing Day which were highly appreciated by audience. Later, the Minister gave away prizes among participating students.Chief Education officer, SDM, officers from District Administration Kulgam ,PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Forest, Rural Development Department were present on the occasion.