On that Gandhi Jayanti amidst much fanfare on October 2, 2014 the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched by Narendra Modi across the country. High expectations were raised but that cleanliness drive has however remained a mere paper fancy with the campaign miserably faltering across the nation.
Even in a tiny State like Goa, the ghost of Swachh Bharat has been a total failure as garbage continues to be escalating and accumulated all over. That Mission to ensure cleanliness and sanitation had to be a people’s movement and not a political one for those in power to enrich their pockets.
The crores of rupees squandered by the government on this failed campaign would have brought smiles and cheers to the multitude of poor and downtrodden if all that money was instead judiciously spent for their much needed upliftment. Under the guise of Swachh Bharat what has infact been cleaned over the last eight years is only the State coffers while the garbage and rubbish on our streets across has been mounting by the day.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
