Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today laid stress on total sanitation for socio-economic uplift of the State's rural people. He also expressed the hope that the State would be able to achieve the total sanitation goals before 2012. The Chief Minister who was addressing a State level convention of total sanitation campaign at the Sarusajai Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bardoloi AC Indoor Stadium here. The Public Health Engineering Department has organised the convention in collaboration with the Assam office of the UNICEF on the occasion of the International Year of Sanitation, 2008 under the banner of Rajiv Gandhi Rural Water and Sanitation Mission. In his address, the Chief Minister made an appeal to the panchayat functionaries and other key stakeholders to come forward to ensure the attainment of the national goal of providing sanitation to all by 2012. He also reiterated that the current year was the year meant for rededicating the political will to the mission of providing the people proper sanitation and hygiene. PHED Minister Rihon Daimary in his speech underlined the need to build sanitary blocks in the schools and baby-friendly toilets in Anganwadi centres so as to provide the children with the atmosphere to lead healthy life. The Minister also made an appeal to the Deputy Commissioners to pay attention to proper implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). In his address, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that sanitation for all sections of the people was a must to prevent diarrhoea, cholera etc diseases and to maintain the dignity of the rural womenfolk. All elected representatives of the people should take TSC as religion. Kamal Mazumdar, Deputy Advisor to the Union Ministry of Rural Development, while sharing his experience with the participants of the convention, pointed out that wherever Chief Ministers' are directly involved in the monitoring of the campaign, the programme gets momentum. It needs mention here that considering the importance of environmental sanitation, the United Nations (UN) declared the year 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation to mobilise global support to achieve the target of sanitation for all as a part of Millennium Development Goal. Today's convention is aimed at sensitising all the key stakeholders including filed functionaries of panchayat for the necessity of proper sanitation and to pledge the National goal