Throwing a gauntlet at officials and asking them to take UP cities in the bracket of top 100 clean cities of India, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the target could be achieved only if officials worked unitedly showing a sense of camaraderie. “There is a big challenge for the state to make cities cleaner and bring them in the country’s map of clean cities.

This can only be achieved if there is team work. Without that we cannot ever dream of coming close to it,” he said. Chief Minister also asked the urban local bodies to ban polythene over 50 microne thickness in their areas from July 15. Addressing a function in Lucknow after presenting awards to districts and urban local bodies for excelling in cleanliness drive, the Chief Minister said that there were 653 urban local bodies in UP and each one should work to get into the country’s cleanness map. “All these cities and urban local bodies have the potential to break that barrier but we are not working as a well-oiled machine,” he said.

Yogi, however, showed his annoyance over the laxity on part of the officials in implementing Smart City project. “Ten cities of the state have been selected for the Smart City project but except Varanasi no other city has made any progress. This is unfortunate.

An official should have the courage to take a decision otherwise the state will suffer,” Yogi said. Exhorting people’s representatives to check and monitor cleanness of their areas, the CM said that daily cleaning of areas and disposal of solid waste was a big work. Social organisations should be involved in the drive in cities while the problem of traffic management and encroachment should be tackled by officials.

Yogi also mentioned about the government’s decision to make the state ODF by October 2. “The situation in rural areas is better than urban areas. While in rural areas, the government has constructed 72 lakh toilets, in urban areas, only 3.15 lakh toilets were constructed in the corresponding time,” he said. “Similarly in Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna, the performance of urban areas was poor as against the target of 14 lakh houses, only 4 lakh houses was constructed in a year,” he said.

The CM said that around 4.5 crore people stayed in these 653 urban local bodies in UP and without their assistance, the state could not achieve the target of ODF and Swacchatta Mission. He also asked officials to seek CRS fund from big companies to beautify their cities.

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/