New Delhi: Swachhta Pakhwada activities by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries have come to a close today. On the penultimate day Union Minister Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal distributed prizes for cleanliness among Mega Food Parks and Cold Chain Units for maintaining, promoting and encouraging Swachhta Culture. The Minister congratulated all the winners & appreciated their efforts to overcome challenges & achieve high levels of Swachhata standards. The first prize was awarded to M/s. Patanjali Food and Herbal Park (P) Ltd. in Haridwar, the second prize by Satara Mega Food Park (P) Ltd., Satara District, Maharashtra and third by Pagro Frozen Foods Pvt.(P) Ltd. (Cold Chain Project) in Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab.
The selection of winners was done by National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management based on Swachhta Audit conducted by it of 11 Mega Food Parks and 11 Cold Chain Units. Noteworthy efforts were also made by the institute who towards the Pakhwada through extensive campaign including rallies, cleanliness drives, shramdaan, distribution of dustbins.
With this, Swachhta Pakhwada, a 15-day observance of cleanliness campaign by the ministryhas comes to a close today. The Pakhwada saw encouraging participation from various industry chambers as well as food processing companies. Various events organised under the Pakhwada are listed below:
- Letter sent to different industry associations requesting them to in-turn inform their members to take part in Swachhta Pakhwada and take the Swachhta Pledge and observe activities to that end on priority. Furthermore Ministry of Food Processing Industries assisted Mega Food Parks, Cold Chain Units, Abattoirs etc in celebrating Swachhta Pakhwada. Also, senior officials and staff of the Ministry participated in cleanliness campaign around the Ministry premises at Panchsheel Bhawan.
- Awareness programme Food Safety for Food Handlers of Hospital Canteens in association with Confederation of Indian Industry. More than 40 participants from AIIMS, Max, Primus, RML, Delhi Heart Institute & other hospitals of Delhi got together to attend the session
- Training programme for street vendors at INA Market & Rajouri Garden, in association with Indian Chamber of Commerceto create awareness on food safety and hygiene procedures to be adopted by food handlers in order to ensure the safe meal.
- Cleanliness drive by Adarsh Scientific Research Center & Testing Lab Pvt Ltd. in Panvel, Mumbai.
- Cleanliness awareness campaign organised for students in Chhatarpur in association with Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry which included taking the Swachhta Pledge and a drawing competition.
- Awareness programme in association with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, for street vendors in Laxmi Nagar to train them on how to keep personal hygiene and maintain the hygiene of their place of work.
- Awareness programme and cleanliness drives in Beltola Bazar in Guwahati and Andherighat in Darrang, Assam, in association with Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern Region where caps, face masks and dustbins were distributed among the street vendors.
- Cleanliness drive by Rana Frozen Foods Cold Chain Project in Haridwar, Uttarakhand
- Training programme for street food vendors in Kotla Mubarakpur, Delhi, in association with ASSOCHAM, and distribution of hygiene kits.
- Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology created a booklet on Waste to Wealth technology which was released on 16th October by Smt. Badal.
Nodal officers of the Ministry also visited Mega Food Parks, Abattoirs, Cold Chains and other assisted projects to review cleanliness measures at the sites during the course of 15 days. The Minister thanked industry chambers for their enthusiastic participation in the campaign and hoped that they will continue to promote the idea of Swachhta becoming a way of life.
