Port Blair, Dec 30: ICAR-CIARI is observing Swachhta Pakhwada from 16th to 31st of this month. On 23rd December, a Kisan Diwas was conducted at KVK, Sippighat to demonstrate the farmers about agricultural waste management. On the occasion, Dr. Nagesh Ram, Senior Scientist & Head, KVK, South Andaman explained about the income prospects of fish seed production for fresh water, crab flattening for brackish water and cage culture for marine; and urged the farmers to practice scientific practices to reduce wastage. Dr. A. Kundu, Director, CIARI raised concern about the persistence of plastic waste in cultivable lands which hinder soil health. On 24th December, cleanliness drive and tree planting were conducted at ICDS Training Centre, Dollygunj. On 25th December, cleanliness drive was undertaken in Caryn’s Cove beach.
On 26th December, quiz and painting competitions were organized at Garacharma campus of CIARI. Around 51 students from 8 schools viz; Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya, Ummat Public School, Govt. Model Sr. School, Kendriya Vidyalaya-II, Saraswati Shishu Mandir School, Invent Public School, St. Mary’s School and Mahatma Gandhi International School have actively participated in the above competitions. At the outset, Dr. I. Jaisankar, Co-Nodal Officer of the program, welcomed the students and briefed about the purpose of Swachhta Pakhwada and mentioned their role for making our Island clean and healthy. Thereafter, Dr. K. Sarvanan, Dr. K. Venkatesan, Mr. Amit Srivastava, Mr. K. Shyam Sundar Rao and Smt. Archana Sharma coordinated the quiz competition in smooth manner. Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya bagged the first prize followed by Govt. Model Sr. School and Ummat Public School. In the concluding remarks, Dr. A. Kundu, Director, CIARI spoke about the Importance of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan and asked the students to be committed for cleanliness and forward the message of cleanliness to others, as said in a press release by S.K. Zamir Ahmed.
