Chandigarh, Mar 25 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Tuesday urged the newly elected public representatives of urban local bodies to work in mission mode against drug menace and speed up cleanliness campaign and to root out the drug menace.

He urged them to rise above party politics and pledge to work in a mission mode with loyalty and dedication in the decisive war against drug abuse, speeding up the cleanliness campaign and raising awareness under the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign.

He was addressing all the public representatives present at the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected mayors of urban local bodies, presidents and members of municipal councils and municipalities in Panchkula.

Congratulating the newly elected public representatives, Saini said the recently concluded civic elections have proved that the people of the state want development, transparency and good governance.

The ruling BJP had swept the civic polls held earlier this month, bagging nine of the 10 mayoral seats. Most of the councillors in municipal corporations who won also belonged to BJP.

Saini urged all the representatives to work towards making the cities prosperous, clean, safe, drug-free and self-reliant.

According to an official statement, the CM also assured that the Haryana government will always be ready to cooperate in this journey of progress of the state.

Describing cities as the pride of the state and country, Saini said people coming from outside assess the prosperity of the city only by looking at the development there.

He said the responsibility of implementing development works of the government in the cities also lies with public representatives of the urban local bodies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the call of 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' from the land of Haryana a decade ago, Saini said, while adding "the fact that our daughters got elected more than the target in these civic elections shows that the Haryana Government has taken this mission forward efficiently".

Referring to the mantra of cleanliness given by the Prime Minister, he said in this direction also, it is the responsibility of the newly elected public representatives to keep their corporation, municipality and city council clean and to live up to the expectations of the people.

They should take a pledge that their municipality, city council and municipal corporation should become number one in cleanliness, he said.

Meanwhile, touching upon the drug issue, Saini said "Manas Portal" has been created to share information about drugs and urged everyone to share detail if drugs are sold anywhere in their ward or area so that the young generation can be saved from this scourge.

He said the name of the informer is kept secret in this.

Describing honesty and transparency as the biggest capital, the Chief Minister said recently, a budget of more than Rs 2,05,000 crore has been presented for the development of the state and a large part of it will be spent with the cooperation of all the newly elected public representatives.

Therefore, everyone should ensure that every penny of the budget is spent on the welfare of the people and the development of Haryana, he said.

The Chief Minister said Haryana's place and contribution will be important in the creation of self-reliant, developed and modern India as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Urban Local Bodies Minister Vipul Goel, BJP State chief Mohan Lal Badoli, Transport Minister Anil Vij, Education Minister Mahipal Dhanda, Development and Panchayat Minister Krishan Lal Panwar, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Krishan Kumar Bedi, were among those present on the occasion. PTI SUN NB NB