MUMBAI: Eight months after it launched a massive beauty contest, the state government has finally found its new ‘Miss Maharashtras’.
Unkalkhop, a sprawl of 14,000 inhabitants sitting amidst the sugarcane fields of Sangli, has been declared the cleanest village’ of 2001-02. Fulsare, a tribal hamlet in Nandurbar, and Talwade, a picturesque village in Sindhudurg, have emerged as impressive runners-up.
Not that these villages have always been so green and gutkha-free.
Unkalkhop, for instance, was a malodorous, mosquito-infested dump.
But the unique Sant Gadge Baba Village Sanitation Campaign launched by the government unleashed a wave of Dettol and determination, transforming not just Unkalkhop, but villages across Maharashtra.
Many villages go beyond sweeping streets and planting trees. Unkalkhop, for example, used its own resources and voluntary labour to construct 30 public toilets, conduct an energetic family planning campaign and convert stinking wastelands into brinjal and sugarcane plots — proving that it is, indeed, possible to generate wealth from waste.
Fulsare, with its water conservation techniques and herbal plantations, touched many hearts. Talwade captured the imagination of the judges for reasons such as active women’s groups involved in profitable ventures and attempts to bolster primary education among others.
