‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ at AMU

 

Aligarh, September 16: Mass ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ cleanliness drives at various departments, schools, faculties and offices of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) continue as the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry gears up to launch a 15-day campaign on September 17 to mark the completion of eight years of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

In the spirit of the Nation-wide cleanliness programme, the Department of Botany observed the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ fortnight from September 1 to 15 with a host of activities such as cleanliness drives, essay contest on ‘Soil Conservation’, poster competition on ‘Say No to Plastic’ and speech contest on ‘Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity’.

Fazal Imam won the essay contest with M Shadab receiving the second prize. Rafa Mazhar, Zeba Ansari and Zeba finished first, second and third respectively in the poster competition.

“The Swachhata fortnight observation at the Department was focused on mobilising citizen action and commitment towards the vision of building garbage-free cities”, said Prof Ghazala Parveen (Chairperson, Department of Botany).

Prof Anwar Shahzad conducted the programme.

A Swachhata pledge was also administered at the Department of Botany.

Essay, slogan and debate contests were held at the Faculty of Unani Medicines to observe the cleanliness fortnight.

Karima Anees won the essay competition with Eqra and M Ihsanul Haque finishing second and third respectively.

Ayesha Parveen, Karima Anees and Ayesha Tugral were declared the respective winners and runner-ups of the slogan contest. Mohd Zeeshan won the debate in which Saud Khan stood second and Saima Nuzhat finished third.

Karima Anees was declared the overall winner ahead of Saima Nuzhat Mohammadi and Faiza Noor.

Dr Naaz Mustafa and Dr Atiya Anjum were the competition judges.

Attending the concluding programme as the Chief Guest, Aligarh Mayor, Mohd Furqan urged people to maintain cleanliness in their neighborhoods.

The Guest of Honour, Dr Narendra Kumar (Regional AYUSH Officer, Aligarh Division) discussed the need for cleanliness and importance of indigenous system of medicine.

In the presidential address, Prof Rakesh Bhargava (Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Principal, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College) deliberated how hygiene practices eliminate infectious diseases.

Prof Bhargava with the guests and faculty members also inaugurated Ramps for differently able people at the entrance of Tibbiya College Auditorium and its adjacent toilets.

Prof Ubaidullah Khan pressed for educating people about the virtues of good sanitation practices and Prof S M Safdar Ashraf (Department of Tahaffuzi wa Samaji Tib) presented the programme report.

Dr Abdul Aziz Khan conducted the programme and Dr Atiya Anjum extended the vote of thanks.

In a similar cleanliness fortnight observations at the Dr ZA Dental College (ZADC); sanitation drives, spot trainings, demonstrations on hand hygiene and sanitation, tree-plantations and a slogan-writing competition on ‘Curbing single use Plastic’ took place at the Departments of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Oral Pathology, Periodontics and Community Dentistry, Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, Prosthodontics and Dental Material and Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics.

“The voluntary exercise to mark the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ at ZADC also included distribution of leaflets on cleanliness and putting up banners on sanitation awareness”, said Prof R K Tewari (Principal, ZADC).

Prof Neha Agarwal and Dr Syed Amaan Ali informed, “Participants were given e-certificates for volunteering in the cleanliness campaign”.

Prof Saira Mehnaz (Chairperson, Department of Community Medicine) explained the various benefits of cleanliness and how it reduces the risk of diseases and keeps us healthy.

She was delivering an invited talk held to mark the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ observations of the Centre of Continuing and Adult Education and Extension.

Prof Aysha Munira Rasheed (Deputy Director, Centre of Continuing and Adult Education and Extension) delivered the welcome address.

The Centre learners gave short speeches and sang songs for cleanliness awareness.

Dr Shamim Akhtar extended the vote of thanks.

Series of events such as essay-writing competition on ‘Water Sanitation and Hygiene’, painting and slogan-writing contests, awareness lectures and a slogan march took place to mark the Swachhata fortnight at the Centre of Agricultural Education, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences.

Prof Pervez Qamar Rizvi (Ex Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, AMU) delivered a lecture on ‘Swacchata: Idea to Reality with special Creative Work on Solid Waste’ and presented artifacts created by Dr Salika Pervez (Department of Fine Arts).

Prof Rais Ahmad (Dean, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences), Prof Iqbal Ahmad (Organizing Secretary), Prof Mohammad Saghir Khan, Dr Shams Tabrez, Dr Faheem Ahamad, Dr Zeba Khan and other faculty members and students participated in the slogan march to create awareness on cleanliness.

Classrooms, laboratories, seminar library, lawns, Geological Park and offices of the Department of Geology were cleaned up and a Swachhata Audit was conducted under the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ campaign.

“Swachhta Pakhwada started in 2016 and since then AMU faculty members and students have been participating to reinvigorate the Nation-wide sanitation programme”, stressed Prof Kr Farahim Khan (Chairman, Department of Geology).

‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ was observed at the Department of Home Science with a series of activities such as a cleanliness drive in the Department premises, cleanliness pledge and special lectures.

“Cleanliness is the state of being clean. People should enhearten this rather than push it as it is very crucial for the health and wellbeing of human beings”, said Prof Farzana Alim (Chairperson, Department of Home Science) while addressing the students and staff members.

Zeba, Assistant Professor at the Department remarked: “Even the essence of the Home Science field advocates the importance of a clean environment”.

A cleanliness drive, special lectures, slogan-writing and poster-making competitions on ‘Swachh Bharat’, craft contest on ‘Best out of Waste’ and Power Point presentation on ‘The Hazards of E-Waste’ were conducted at the AMU ABK High School (Boys) to sensitise students about the importance of cleanliness.

Dr Samina (School Principal) administered the Swachhta Pledge and encouraged students to inculcate cleanliness habits.

School teacher, Mohd Azam Husain delivered a talk on ‘Importance of Hygiene and Sanitation’.

Students also delivered motivational speeches, recited poems and gave references on cleanliness from religious scriptures.

Teachers and students of the AMU ABK High School (Girls) marked the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ with a series of awareness activities.

“A special morning assembly for cleanliness awareness, a mass pledge and cleanliness drives were also conducted”, said Dr Saba Hasan (Vice Principal).

Students of the STS School also participated in quiz, essay, poster, slogan-writing, letter- writing, classroom decoration and poetry contests to observe the Nation-wide, ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’.

Special morning assembly for cleanliness awareness, a mass oath on ‘Swachchta Hi Seva’ and cleanliness drives were also held at the STS School.

Faisal Nafis (Principal) informed: “Senior students visited nearby localities to spread awareness about cleanliness and hygiene in a community outreach programme”.

Nasreen Fatima (Coordinator, Cultural Activities) extended the vote of thanks.

Cleanliness drives, special lectures and sanitation pledges were held at the Sir Ross Masood Hall to observe the ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’.

“Cleaning plays a vital role in our daily lives. Be it personal hygiene, such as washing our hands before we eat or covering our mouths when we cough, or setting a standard for environmental cleanliness, effective cleaning is our first line of defense against viruses and infectious diseases”, said the Guest Speaker, Arshad Husain (Faculty member, Civil Engineering Section, University Polytechnic).

Major Mohammad Israil (Hall Provost) administered the cleanliness pledge.