Union Minister for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh, said that Special Campaign 2.0 was highly successful in realizing Prime Minister Modi’s vision for institutionalizing Swachhata and Minimizing Pendency.

Briefing the media about the outcomes and best practices of Month long Nationwide Special Campaign 2.0 conducted from 2^nd October to 31^st October, 2022, Dr Jitendra Singh said, over Rs. 364 crores earned from scrap disposal and over 88.05 lac sq feet of space freed during the campaign.

Dr Jitendra Singh informed that Special Campaign 2.0 was 15 times larger than Special Campaign of 2021 in terms of cleanliness campaign sites. He said, Swachhata Campaign successfully conducted in 99633 campaign sites, 54.5 lac files reviewed, 436,855 Public Grievances Redressed, 8734 MP’s references replied and 883 Rules eased in the period October 2-25, 2022.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that Special Campaign was a perfect example of the Whole of Government Approach and even went beyond that as Overseas Missions also took active part in the month-long campaign. He said, Departments/ Ministries have given special attention to attached/ subordinate/ filed offices including in the remotest parts of India in month long campaign period from October 2-31, 2022.

Apart from the detailed presentation about the Special Campaign 2.0 by Secretary, DARPG, Shri V. Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Dr Sanjeev Ranjan, Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Vinay Kumar Tripathi, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, K. Rajaraman, Secretary, DST, Shri Chandrasekhar and Chairman CBIC, Shri Vivek Johri also shared the best practices during the press conference.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said officials drew inspiration from Prime Minister’s words in his tweet that “such efforts are not only innovative and commendable but most importantly remind us of our basic civic duty of keeping our surroundings and public places clean.”

The Special Campaign 2.0 was undertaken from October 2-31, 2022 in pursuance of the decision taken by the Council of Ministers that under Special Campaign 2.0, for cleanliness in offices and for disposal of pending references, Ministries/ Departments to give special attention to attached/ subordinate/ field offices, including in the remotest parts of the Country. In the period October 2-31, 2022, the Special Campaign 2.0 has been implemented in remote outstation offices, foreign missions and posts, attached and subordinate offices. The campaign sites included central government offices from Drass to Kanya Kumari and from Bikaner to Itanagar. Further all Indian Missions abroad implemented the Special Campaign 2.0 with enthusiasm.

The Special Campaign 2.0, was holistic in size and scale, witnessed widespread participation from thousands of officials and citizens who came together create a movement for Swachhata in Government Offices. Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State participated in the Special Campaign 2.0 providing leadership and guidance in implementation.

The Department of Posts has conducted the cleanliness campaign in 24000 Post Offices, the Ministry of Railways has conducted in 9374 Railway Stations, Department of Defence in 5922 campaign sites and Ministry of Home Affairs in 11559 campaign sites. 16 Ministries/ Departments have conducted the Special Campaign 2.0 in over 1000 campaign sites, 31 Ministries/ Departments had conducted in the Special Campaign 2.0 in over 100 campaign sites.

The progress of Special Campaign 2.0 was monitored on a dedicated portal www.pgportal.gov.in/scdpm22 on a daily basis. 215 Nodal Officers/ Sub-Nodal Officers were appointed in all Ministries/ Departments. The Special Campaign 2.0 was reviewed on a weekly basis by Secretaries to Government of India. The progress of the Special Campaign 2.0 has been widely reported in social media with over 67,000 social media tweets by Ministries/ Departments. 127 PIB Statements were issued by Ministries/ Departments.

Over 300 best practices in conducting the Special Campaign 2.0 as a citizen centric movement, to bring citizens and government closer and create an aesthetically pleasant work environment were reported by Ministries/ Departments.

Amongst the best practices that emerged in Special Campaign 2.0 the following are mentioned:

1. Two initiatives of Ministry of Railways in Bengaluru Railway Station to create a Plastic Rakshasa sculpture from discarded plastic bottles. A new rail coach restaurant has been started at Guntur Railway Station
2. The initiative of Department of Posts in opening a Parcel cafe Kolkata GPO by refurbishing old furniture for enhancing customer experience
3. The initiative of Ministry of Tribal Affairs in creating a Jarwa tribe hut in Port Blair which shows their way of eco-friendly cultural values towards cleanliness.
4. The initiative of Department of Agriculture Research and Education in creating a complete parthenium free and plastic free farms by KVK CRIDA, Telangana.
5. The initiative of Ministry of Women & Child Development to develop “One Stop Centers”,  and imparting training for making usable products from waste material.
6. The initiative of Central Board of Indirect Taxes for innovative use of office corridor enhancement using the theme of “Aranya” in their office corridor.
7. The initiative of Ministry of Coal under the “Garbage to Garden” initiative in  Central Coal Fields limited in Bokaro and Kargali fields. As part of this campaign Gardens have been developed in Coal Fields which were earlier junkyards.
8. The initiative of Central Board of Direct Taxes in creating Vertical Gardens made by use of waste plastic bottles help in recycling plastic waste and beautifying office spaces. 430 Aaykar Seva Kendras (ASK Centres) were operational in multiple locations across for redressal of public grievances.
9. The initiative of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the “Garbage to Green Project” by growing Ayush Herbal Plants at AIIMS Bibinagar.
10. The initiative of Ministry of Home Affairs, under the ‘Straight to security Initiative’ by CISF at Hyderabad Airport resulting in faster check-in,
11. The initiative of Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare in promoting the use of face authentication app for pensioners over the age of 80.
12. The initiative of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways  in the Syama Prasad Mukherjee Port Authority, Kolkata (SMPA) has turned the paddle steamer into a unique showcase for cruise tourism, with an under-deck museum, floating restaurant/ conference and has been made operational through self-propulsion
13. The initiative of Department of Atomic Energy in using robots for cleaning sewers and drains in BARC Mumbai.
14. The initiative of Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Geo-Tagging of Files.
15. The initiative of Border Roads Organization in building roads using plastic waste.

Dr. Jitendra Singh congratulated all officials and institutions who strived tirelessly under the Special Campaign 2.0 in fulfilling the Government’s stated objective of institutionalizing swachhata and minimizing pendency.

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SNC/RR