Government to spend about 2 lakh Crore rupees for Swachh Bharat Mission More than 11 crore toilets will be built in 5 years

Courtesy: Photo Division

The Union Minister of Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri Nitin Gadkari said that Swachh Bharat Mission will be converted into a mass movement to make India an open defecation free country in Five Years. Addressing a Joint Press conference with the Urban Development Minister Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu here this afternoon, Shri Gadkari said, one lakh thirty four thousand crore rupees will be spent for construction of about 11 crore 11 lakh toilets in the country. The Urban Development Ministry will earmark more than 60,000 Crore rupees for this purpose. The Minister also underlined that technology will be used on a large scale to convert waste into wealth in rural India in the forms of bio-fertilizer and different forms of energy. 

Shri Gadkari informed that the pet mission of the Prime Minister will be executed on war footing with the involvement of every gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and Zila Parishad in the country , besides roping in large sections of rural population and school teachers and students in this endeavor. 

The Ministry has decided to observe the Week from 26th September to 2nd of October as Panchayat Panchayat Week for creation of awareness about sanitation and cleanliness. Shri Gadkari also informed that religious , social and cultural organizations across the country will be asked to cooperate in this sacred mission. 

Swachh Bharat Mission to be launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 2nd of October, Gandhi Jayanti, aims at making India an open defecation free country by 2019, coinciding with the celebration of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. 

Shri Modi will launch the scheme from a jhuggi cluster in the capital and will also dedicate to the poor some newly constructed toilets. The Prime Minister will also lead the nation in taking a pledge for Swachh Bharat. 

Courtesy: pib.nic.in