News 18 | Swachh Bharat Went from Govt Abhiyan to People's Project, Says Hardeep Singh Puri at Mission Swachhta aur Paani Telethon

Nov 19,2022

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan started off as a government initiative and ended up becoming a project of the people, Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said at the Network18 & Harpic Mission Swachhta aur Paani telethon.

“It (Swachh Bharat Mission) started as program of the government and ended up being a project of the people, a jan andolan,” the minister said, lauding the Network18 and Harpic initiative for including swachhta and sanitation in its motto.

“Garbage-free city must be key focus. Segregation of waste is happening everyday. Waste processing has been raised to 80%,” Puri said.

Mission Swachhta aur Paani, an initiative by News18 & Harpic, is a movement that upholds the cause of inclusive sanitation where everyone has access to clean toilets. It advocates equality for all genders, abilities, castes and classes and strongly believes that clean toilets are a shared responsibility.

The telethon will showcase India’s sanitation journey so far and the road ahead for the next five years that will endeavour to bring about a behavioural shift ensuring clean and hygienic toilets. It will bring together government leaders, celebrities, change-makers, sanitation workers and thought leaders from across India with the promise of leaving no one behind.

The mission also draws inspiration from the Narendra Modi government’s push for sanitation and use of toilets to end open defecation in India as well as from the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

In April this year, the PM had shared achievements under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan such as construction of toilets in over 11.5 crore households and more than 58,000 villages as well as over 3,300 cities becoming open defecation free.

The PM had last year launched the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban. It envisions to make all cities ‘garbage free’ and ensure grey and black water management in all cities other than those covered under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), make all urban local bodies open defecation free and those with a population of less than one lakh as open defecation free, thereby achieving the vision of safe sanitation in urban areas.