Cabinet nod to 5-year-long 'Swachh Bharat' mission

In a major push to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet "Swachh Bharat" project, Government ON Wednesday gave its nod to the five-year-long programme to eliminate open defecation and construction of individual and community toilets across the country. The Union Cabinet also approved setting up of Clean Ganga Fund with voluntary contributions from citizens, NRIs and Person of Indian Origin toward the conservation of the river Ganga.

The clean India campaign will now be called "Swachh Bharat" Mission. The urban component of the Mission is proposed to be implemented over 5 years starting from October 2, 2014 in all 4041 statutory towns. The total expected cost of the programme is Rs 62,009 crore, out of which the proposed central assistance will be of Rs 14,623 crore. Seeking to create better synergy, the Cabinet also approved restructuring of the "Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan" (NBA) into "Swachh Bharat" Mission (rural).

The urban component includes elimination of open defecation, conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, eradication of manual scavenging, municipal solid waste management and bringing about a behavioural change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices. The Programme consists of components for providing individual household toilets, community and public toilets and municipal solid waste management in all 4041 statutory towns. It would cover 1.04 crore households, provide 2.5 lakh seats of community toilets, 2.6 lakh seats of public toilets and solid waste management facility for all towns, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said after the Cabinet meeting.