The Ministry of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment will launch the second phase of its “Aththama” national cleanliness programme on September 19, Hiru News reported on Monday.
The programme runs under the government’s Clean Sri Lanka initiative. Its first phase began on August 8, with the stated aim of strengthening ties between state institutions, the private sector and the public to build what the ministry describes as a clean, orderly and environmentally sound country.
The second phase was set out at an awareness discussion held on Monday for state officials and representatives of community development councils in the Kelaniya Divisional Secretariat Division.
Context
Community development councils are the local structures the same ministry uses to deliver Prajashakthi, the rural poverty programme that had spent Rs. 23 billion across some 23,000 projects by late August. Routing the cleanliness drive through the same councils gives it an existing delivery network rather than a new one.
Clean Sri Lanka is the umbrella under which the government has also placed its Rs. 30 billion waste management programme and the Mithuru Purawara town upgrade scheme.
Not reported
Hiru did not say what the second phase consists of, which districts it covers, what it costs, or how the first phase performed since August 8. No other verified newsroom had carried the announcement at the time of writing.
