Months of toiling by sweeping the roads, installing dustbins and picking up garbage from public places paid off for the winners of a unique competition at Khumtai in Assam’s Golaghat district on Friday with the chief minister rewarding the cleanest villages and tea garden.
Impressed at people’s participation, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced matching incentives with the awards being given to them under the ‘Clean Khumtai’ competition, initiated by local MLA Mrinal Saikia.
“Appreciate the innovative promotion of cleanliness in villages through competition initiated by Hon Khumtai MLA Shri Mrinal Saikia in his Khumtai constituency. Announced results of the competition and our Govt shall give incentives to all position holders,” Sarma tweeted after giving away the prizes.
The prizes for the winners were also as innovative as the competition for cleanliness between the villages and the tea gardens.
The first prize in the inter-village competition was construction of one km rural road, while developmental schemes worth Rs 10 lakh, Rs 8 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively were for the winners from second to fifth positions.
The tea garden cleanliness contest winners were given schemes for developmental activities worth Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively.
The villages were awarded in four categories while the tea gardens were clubbed into a single category.
While the villagers had been preparing for it for the last few months, the contest was formally held between February 17 and March 6, with a panel of judges drawn from different walks of life carrying out the evaluation process.
The awards will be given out of various government schemes, with Sarma announcing that another matching incentive will be additionally given to the winners.
The chief minister also pointed out that the state Budget for 2023-24, which was presented in the Assembly on Thursday, has announced Rs 100 crore award for a cleanliness contest among districts.
-With PTI Input
