Govt to rope in corporates for 'Clean India' mission

The government will rope in private players to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a “Swatch Bharat” (Clean India) by 2019 a reality, Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Nitin Gadkari said on Monday. 

Speaking at a meeting with state ministers to review rural sanitation and drinking water schemes, Gadkari said that the Centre would ensure adequate funding to turn the Prime Minister’s call into a reality. He sought assistance from the states to meet the target. 

“To achieve this, we not only need the support of all state machineries, but also convergence between schemes of various ministries in Government of India, state schemes and cooperation of the corporates (for utilising their Corporate Social Responsibility fund),” he said. 

Several companies have already expressed their desire to contribute to the mission soon after Modi articulated it in his speech on Independence Day. Modi had also called for building toilets in all schools within a year. 

The Bharti Foundation and Tata Consultancy Services pledge Rs 100 crore each from their respective CSR funds to build toilets in schools across the country. 

Gadkari said that he had been assured by Union Energy Minister Piyush Goyal that the National Thermal Power Corporation would also come forward to help build toilets in 1,000 schools. “There would not be any dearth of fund for the mission,” he said.

He said that the current allocation of Rs 10,000 per toilet in rural areas is insufficient and soon the amount would be increased to achieve the real target. 

Lamenting that even after 67 years of Independence, 60 per cent of the people defecate in open, he said the dream project of the prime minister  would be executed in a mission mode.