DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Mayor of Chandigarh, Sarbjit Kaur while honouring the 'Change leaders' during Swachh Award ceremony at the Open Air Theater, Sector 48, Chandigarh said that this year, the Swachh Survekshan has been redesigned innovatively, to ensure that the process becomes more robust, with focus on sustaining the behavior change and role of local change leaders. Anindita Mitra, IAS, Commissioner, Sh. Rajinder Sharma, Area Councillor, Sh. Kanhayia Mittal, Brand Ambassador, SBM, Chandigarh, other councilors, officers of MCC and the awardees from different categories of awards and competitions were present during the occasion. While addressing the awardees, the Mayor also touched upon how Swachh Survekshan has become a tool for citizen engagement in the spirit of a true 'Jan Andolan'. She said that this year, the focus on citizen participation has been moved a notch higher by introducing indicators that encourage innovations led by citizens, start-ups, entrepreneurs and Swachhata champions amongst others. The Mayor said that the scope of the survey has now been expanded to cover 100% wards for sampling, as compared to 40% in previous years. In order to seamlessly carry out this ambitious exercise, SS 2023 will see more than twice the number of assessors deployed last year for the on-field assessment. She said that moving towards the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of a Digital India, the upcoming edition of Survekshan shall usher in improved technological interventions such as digital tracking of documents, geo-tagging of sanitation and waste management of facilities for better efficiency, and QR code-based citizens' feedback for increased people outreach. Through these multi-faceted initiatives, the SS 2023 framework will propel the Mission towards a circular economy approach through optimum resource recovery. She further said that Swachh Bharat Mission is an important and transformative programme which has achieved success due to involvement of all stakeholders at the grassroot level. The Hon'ble Prime Minister is the catalyst for converting the vision of the Mahatma Gandhi into reality by leading from front and converting it into a peoples' movement. The road to this success was not easy but today we have not only achieved Water, but also succeeded in improved Solid Waste Management. (editor@dailyworld.in)