Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday urged the people to make the 'Clean, Green and Fit Village' campaign successful so that Mahatma Gandhi's vision of a clean and green India could be realised in its true spirit.
Cleanliness is next to godliness and both mental and physical health was necessary to ensure the development of a nation, the chief minister said while inaugurating the 'Clean, Green and Fit Village campaign initiated by MyGov Assam in association with ONGC and Assam Volleyball Association here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in his very first Independence Day speech in 2014 to make India clean and green by 2019 synchronising with 150th birth anniversary of the Mahatma and it turned into a mass movement, Sonowal said.
"We must strive hard to ensure that the Prime Minister's initiative will lead to realising the Mahatma's vision", he added.
Highlighting the Prime Minister's campaigns - 'No to Plastic, Fit India Movement, Jal Jeevan Mission for water conservation, International Yoga Day -, Sonowal said that Modi was making an effort to bring holistic development to peoples' lives through both mental and physical fitness.
The clean and green village initiative of MyGov Assam was being successfully implemented with the support of various NGOs while the concept of fit village has been newly introduced where the children from the villages are encouraged to play volleyball to stay fit.
Initially 115 villages in the state have been selected for the campaign where ONGC, as part of its CSR initiative, would provide 115 volleyballs with nets, 100 jute bags and five bamboo dustbins per village, an official release said.
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The youth apart from playing volleyball would also take part in picking up single-use plastic items in their villages which would be later collected and sent for recycling.
Sonowal urged the players to strive hard and bring laurels to the nation as sports could unify people cutting across social divides.
He also appreciated ONGC for coming forward to support the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Fit India Movement and urged the authorities to continue its endeavour towards this end.