MHRD praises NALCO's 100% show in Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan

BHUBANESWAR: State-owned National Aluminium Company Limited ( NALCO) today said it has completed the target of constructing toilets for schools in three districts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, which has been appreciated by the Centre.

Appreciating the initiative undertaken by NALCO, S C Khuntia, Secretary in Department of School Education and Literacy, Union Ministry of HRD ( MHRD), has congratulated NALCO's CMD T K Chand "for achieving 100 per cent target under Swachh Vidyalaya initiative", a company release said.

"Please convey my appreciation to all officers who have contributed to the success in this socially important initiative," it quoted Khuntia as having said in the message.

It may be mentioned that NALCO was asked by the MHRD to construct 355 toilets in 202 schools of Angul, Koraput and Visakhapatnam districts and the company had successfully completed the task within the stipulated time through NALCO Foundation, the CSR arm of the company, the release said.

Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan was a herculean task, considering the fact that most of the schools allotted to NALCO were located in remote and Maoist-infested areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, it said.

Since, some of the schools did not have any approach roads, pre-fabricated toilets had to be carried on head loads, crossing rivulets and hillocks, the release said.

Despite heavy odds, NALCO not only achieved the target on time, but also constructed 79 additional toilets beyond the MHRD target, as per ground realities and requests from school authorities, it said.

With that, NALCO altogether constructed 433 toilets in 206 schools under the Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan, the release added.