Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Sunday, said the government was working on minimum wage guarantee for sanitation workers across Uttar Pradesh, adding that a committee had already been formed in this regard and concrete action would be taken soon.

Addressing the ‘Safai Mitra Suraksha Aur Samman Sammelan’ at the Abhaynandan Inter College grounds, Chief Minister Yogi announced that along with minimum wage, arrangements for housing and welfare schemes for sanitation workers will also be ensured.

The chief minister inaugurated and laid foundation stones of as many as 176 development projects worth Rs 116 crore of Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation on the occasion.

Besides, he launched the e-service portal and a welfare fund for sanitation workers. He also announced an accident insurance facility of up to Rs 10 lakh for sanitation workers.

Chief Minister Yogi distributed cheques to the dependents of four safai mitras from the welfare fund in addition to uniforms and lunch boxes to sanitation workers and vehicle drivers. He also flagged off door-to-door garbage collection vehicles.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath remarked, “The soul of beauty lies in cleanliness. No matter how beautiful we make the city, how wide the roads are, if there is no cleanliness, all the efforts go in vain. So, we must respect the workers who are dedicated to ensuring cleanliness.”

He further stated that sanitation workers should not only receive a minimum wage guarantee but also residential facilities. “They should benefit from schemes such as ration cards, health insurance coverage, and schemes like Ujjwala,” he pointed out, lauding the initiatives of the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation in this context.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Gorakhpur’s ranking in the cleanliness survey had improved from 74 to 22 with the efforts of the sanitation workers. “Gorakhpur has received a three-star ranking in the Garbage-Free City category. Gorakhpur is now recognised as a good and beautiful city. It is counted among the best cities in the country. The maximum credit for this achievement should go to the sanitation workers,” he stated.

He added: “We should work together to improve the cleanliness ranking even further. Our target should be to be among the 10 cleanest cities in the next survey and among the top three eventually. To achieve this, public awareness needs to be increased.”

The chief minister directed councilors to form ‘Parshadgan Mohalla Swachhta Committee’ and raise awareness of cleanliness among people so that they did not throw garbage on the roads or in drains and treated sanitation workers with respect.

At the programme venue, the chief minister inspected stalls of the municipal corporation, Child Development Services and Nutrition department, National Urban Livelihood Mission and others.

During this, he conducted an annaprashan of babies and baby showers for pregnant women. The chief minister gifted toys to the babies.

Member of Parliament Ravi Kishan Shukla and Mayor Dr Mangalesh Srivastava also spoke on the occasion. District Panchayat Chairperson Sadhna Singh, MLA Fateh Bahadur Singh, Mahendrapal Singh, Pradeep Shukla, MLC Dr Dharmendra Singh, former mayor Anju Choudhary, Dr Satya Pandey, Bharatiya Janata Party metropolitan president Rajesh Gupta and others were present at the event.