Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) has been awarded with Swachh Bharat Inter-Ministerial Award by Minister of State, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation Shri S.S. Ahluwalia in the presence of Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, and Minister of State, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation Shri R.C. Jigajinagi in recently held Swachh Bharat National Award ceremony on Gandhi Jayanti, 02nd October 2017 in New Delhi. The award in the inter-Ministerial category was presented to MoPNG on the basis of the activities undertaken in the past three years and was received by Senior Adviser (PNG). This event was organized to mark the third anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Swachh Bharat Diwas, and the conclusion of Swachhata Hi Seva fortnight.

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has been proactively involved in making India clean mainstreaming Swachhta in our regular activities. The focus of MoPNG has been not only to garner people’s involvement but also to bring about behavioural and attitudinal change through unique/special contribution to the cause of Swachh Bharat Mission, through innovative and unconventional practices/approaches. Some of the innovative activities undertaken by Oil & Gas CPSEs, under the administrative control of MoPNG, inter-alia include, launch of Project Saraswati to tap the ground water resources along the course of Paleo-channel of river Saraswati in Haryana to tide over severe water crisis in summer; construction of unique zero energy based vegetable cellars in Nang village near Leh for helping potato farmers by preventing rotting of farm produce due to extreme temperatures; construction of bio-toilets in Leh (J&K) and Mahanandpur (Bihar), making ODF localities such as Bharatnagar (Maharashtra), Gandhigaon (Assam) etc., cleaning Himalayas in collaboration with Indian Mountaineering Foundation and organizing competitions on Swachhta Apps.

Under the Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan, to reduce the drop-out rate among girl students due to non-availability of separate toilet facilities, Oil CPSEs/JVs have constructed more than 20,187 school toilets. These toilets are used by more than 5 lakh girl students. More than 95% of the toilets have been constructed in rural areas. Under waste to fuel projects, Oil & Gas CPSEs have taken initiatives for implementation of waste to fuel projects on a pilot basis across 7 States.

Tourist/religious iconic places have been earmarked for Oil and Gas CPSEs with focus on special clean up initiative focusing on maintenance and upkeep of tourist/religious places. The best iconic place award was given to Golden temple, Amritsar and Special awards were given to Mata Vaishno Devi temple, J&K and Meenakshi temple, Tamil Nadu, adopted by HPCL, IOCL and BPCL respectively.

MoPNG is fully committed to contribute its best in making Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a Jan Andolan and in building a clean, green, healthy, sustainable and inclusive “New India”.

 

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