All cities and towns of 5 states attain ODF status

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Five more states: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Haryana, have reached the milestone of making all cities and towns ‘Open Defecation Free’ as the `Swacch Bharat Mission’ completed three years on October 2, 2017.

This was announced by the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Hardeep Singh Puri while speaking at a programme here on the occasion of the third anniversary of the mission. Giving an account of the progress towards Swacchata in urban areas of the country, Puri informed that as against the target of building about 66 lakh individual household toilets in urban areas, 38 lakh toilets have already been built and construction of another 14 lakh toilets is in progress. Over two lakh community and public toilet seats have been built as against the mission target of five lakh toilet seats, according to a PIB release.

Stating that the focus is now on Solid Waste Management, Puri said that efforts are on to generate over 500 MW of electricity and over 50 lakh tons of compost from municipal solid waste to enable processing of the entire solid waste being generated in urban areas. Puri said that sanitation is a birth right and individual responsibility as well. He informed that the fortnight long ‘Swacchata Hi Sewa’ campaign concluding on October 2 has witnessed participation of over 80 lakh people spread over 3.50 lakh activities in urban areas, according to the PIB release.

The Minister stressed on the need for ‘life style change’ to realise the objective of Swacch Bharat as envisioned by PM Narendra Modi.