Cantonments should make efforts to make their areas open defecation free under Swachh Bharat: MoS Defence

New Delhi. Underlining Swachh Bharat as a top priority of the government, Minister of State for Defence Dr Subhash Bhamre said full efforts must be given to make all Cantonments open defecation free in a short timeline.

Speaking on the occasion of 91st Defence Estates Day in New Delhi December 16, the Minister said every cantonment needs to implement the latest technology in waste management and water recycling with a targeted timeframe.

Highlighting that sanitation, education and medical services are the three critical areas in cantonment administration, Dr Bhamre said full attention should be given for overall development of cantonment schools where generally children from disadvantaged sections of society study, so as to make them role models for other municipal schools.

He stressed on the need for cantonment dispensaries and hospitals to give full attention to make them at par with the best facilities available in that particular area.

Dr Bhamre complimented the Defence Estate Department for taking a quantum jump in modernising the defence land management system by way of digitisation of records, creation of land data bank, online connectivity, survey work and adopting best practices. Terming it as a ‘game changer’, he said it is a role model for other similar institutions to emulate.

On this occasion, the MoS and other dignitaries released Land Survey Reports in respect of five military stations– Kirkee, Porbander, Vishakhapatnam, Medak and Nabagram in Behrampore.

Earlier, in his welcome speech, Director General Defence Estates Jojneswar Sharma gave a brief account of the activities of the Directorate. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba and Secretary Defence Production Ashok Kumar Gupta also graced the function.

The Minister also awarded Raksha Mantri’s Awards for Excellence to officers and staff of the organisation for their outstanding performance in different spheres. This year, the award for Best Centre for Differently Abled Children was given to Cantonment School, Kanpur. In the categories for improvement in functioning of Cantonment Board Schools for Class I to VIII and Class IX to XII, Cantonment Board School, Babina and Meerut were declared winners, respectively.

In the ‘Clean and Healthy Cantonment’ category, four Cantonment Boards namely, Kirkee, Wellington, Lansdowne and Amritsar received the awards from the Minister, jointly. In the category of ‘Innovative Measures and Projects for Public Good’ the award were jointly shared by Cantonment Board Delhi and Secunderabad.