Urban achieved Swachh Bharat Mission: Govt

The Centre on Monday claimed that it is succeeded in achieving its goal to make India open defecation free (ODF) under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), though urban local bodies in West Bengal had not been declared ODF.

“Urban areas of 35 states / UTs have become ODF. In all, 4,320 cities (out of 4,372) have declared themselves ODF, of which 4,167 cities have been certified through third-party verification,” said a ministry in a statement.

This has been achieved by the construction of nearly 65.81 lakh individual household toilets against Mission's target of 59 lakhs.

On Solid Waste Management, the Ministry said so far 96% of wards started door to door collection, and of which around 60% of the total waste generated is being processed, said the Ministry.

'On making city garbage-free which includes cleanliness of drains & water bodies, plastic waste management, managing construction and demolition waste, 4 cities (Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai and Mysuru) have been certified as 5-star cities with cleanest while 57 cities have been certified as 3-star cities, and 4 cities have been certified as 1-star cities.

The Swachhata hi Seva campaign of 2019 has garnered participation from more than 7 crore urban residents, across 3,200 cities, from more than 1,06,000 events, and more than 7,700 million tonnes of plastic waste has been collected, said the statement.