Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu nominated 18 distinguished personalities from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as ambassadors for the Swacch Bharat Mission.
Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday nominated 18 distinguished personalities from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as ambassadors for the Swacch Bharat Mission to propagate this national campaign on cleanliness in their own spheres.
The Swacch Bharat Mission ambassadors are noted media personality Vemuri Radha Krishna, veteran singer Dr. S P Balasubramanium, Yashoda Hospitals Group MD Dr G S Rao, Infotech CMD B V R Mohan Reddy, My Home Group promoter Dr Rameshwar Rao, noted surgeon Dr Gopichand, IT industry representative J A Chowdary, film actor Nitin, lyricist Ashok Teja, chess player Koneru Humpy, badminton stalwart Pullela Gopichand, cricketer V V S Laxman, Nizamabad MP K Kavita and Guntur MP Jayadev Galla.
Noted singer S P Balasubramaniam pledged to propagate the campaign using his influence as a cultural icon by creating a song exclusively on Swacch Bharat, that would be penned originally by the Telugu lyricist Vennelakanti and would be later translated into other Indian languages.
He also committed to introduce the Swacch Bharat theme in his television program.
Famed Hyderabadi ex-batsman V V S Laxman stressed that transformation should start at the grassroot level, and from the schools.
K Kavita, the Member of Parliament from Nizamabad, emphasized the need for synergizing the efforts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and for sustaining the campaign.
Mohan Reddy committed to support the cause by bringing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, corporate volunteerism and good business processes to the campaign.
Ashok Teja, noted lyricist, composed a song on Swacchh Bharat, and committed to convey the message of the campaign through his work.
Jaydev Galla emphasized the public health and environmental costs of sub-optimal sanitation, and encouraged governments to allocate more resources to the program.
The union minister also shared that Pawan Kalyan, noted film personality; Amala Akkineni, animal rights activist; and industrialist G V Krishna Reddy had pledged their support to the mission and spreading the message.
The minister also emphasized the need for changing the current attitudes and mindset towards sanitation for the successful implementation of the campaign.
A token sum for the mission for the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is being released today.
Urban Development Secretary Shankar Aggarwal, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Secretary Anita Agnihotri, and Joint Secretaries of the Union Government Neeraj Mandloi, Sameer Sharma, B K Aggarwal and Praveen Prakash also spoke on the occasion.
Later, the Union Minister inaugurated a day-long consultative workshop on Urban Governance on Monday. The Municipal Commissioners of five states - Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry - participated in the Workshop.
The workshop was being organized by the Ministry of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, with the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) being the knowledge partner. (INN)