Chandigarh, October 2: Emphasising that cleanliness is closely linked to public health and the quality of life, Rajya Sabha Member Satnam Singh Sandhu has urged citizens to make sanitation and responsible waste disposal an everyday habit.
Sandhu made the remarks while participating in a cleanliness drive at the Sector 26 Vegetable Market here as part of the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’. The campaign, organised in connection with Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, was led by BJP Chandigarh in-charge and former Union Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey.
BJP Chandigarh president Jatinder Pal Malhotra, former president Arun Sood, Mayor Saurabh Joshi, besides party workers, leaders and residents, joined the cleanliness initiative.
Sandhu said the vision of a developed India could not be separated from clean streets, hygienic markets and a healthy environment. He said the government had created extensive sanitation infrastructure, but maintaining it required the active participation of citizens.
He said the Swachh Bharat Mission, over the last 12 years, had grown into a large public movement. More than 12.22 crore household toilets have been built in rural India, while over 5.69 lakh villages have attained ODF Plus status, according to the figures cited by him.
Similarly, solid waste management facilities have been established in more than 5.38 lakh villages, while liquid waste management arrangements have been made in over 5.65 lakh villages. In urban areas, door-to-door waste collection and source segregation have also been expanded.
Sandhu also drew attention to efforts to deal with legacy waste accumulated at landfill sites. He said that by May 2026, about 65 per cent of 26 crore metric tonnes of legacy waste at 2,482 sites had been processed, while around 9,000 acres of land had been reclaimed.
He said scientific processing of legacy waste was underway at Daddumajra in Chandigarh and Bhalswa in Delhi. At Bhalswa, 99.07 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste had reportedly been processed by July 2026.
Terming cleanliness at the Sector 26 Vegetable Market particularly important, Sandhu said a clean market was essential not only for shoppers but also for the health and livelihoods of traders and street vendors.
He appealed to citizens and shopkeepers to ensure proper disposal of waste and take ownership of the cleanliness of their surroundings.
