In a surprise move, IAS officer visits rural houses in Udupi to collect garbage

UDUPI: There was a surprise for the people of Badagabettu village in Udupi district who were waiting for the garbage collection vehicle. The person driving the vehicle was not the one who used to come daily but an IAS officer! In a surprise move Prasanna H, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Udupi Zilla Panchayat decided to personally drive the vehicle as it was the easiest way to interact with the people and also understand the problem of the garbage collection team.

Door-to-door garbage collection has received a good response in the rural areas of Udupi district. Yet the district has failed to achieve 100 percent. To give the garbage collection process a push and also to interact with the people and garbage collection team Prasanna decided to drive the vehicle for about 2-3 hours.

“This provided me a platform to interact with the people as well as the garbage collection team. While the people told me about their problems, I also understood the improvement that needs to be done in our process. Instead of sitting in the office and giving directions, this helped to get a firsthand experience,” Prasanna told Deccan Chronicle.

As part of the Swachta Hi Seva campaign, Zilla Panchayat has chalked out programs to give a push for cleanliness in rural areas. “Garbage collection is a difficult job. But the CEO drove the vehicle and came to our doorstep too and interacted with us,” a villager said.