60 Lakh Toilets Built In Four Years Of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Says Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

New Delhi: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has propelled Maharashtra towards cleanliness and safer sanitation, stated Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis speaking at the New India Conclave. Acknowledging the positive impact of the Abhiyan on Maharashtra’s sanitation coverage, Mr Fadnavis said that since 1947, 50 lakh toilets had been constructed in the state, compare that with the last four years, when a massive 60 lakh toilets have been constructed with 22 lakh toilets being constructed in the year 2017-18 alone.

The toilet coverage in the state’s rural areas has gone up to 100 per cent from a mere 49 per cent four years back, when the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan had begun in October 2, 2014. The Chief Minister said that such an achievement in just over three years shows that the state had taken to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan with utmost seriousness from day one. Maharashtra’s performance in on the sanitation front has been impressive with both urban and rural Maharashtra being declared open defecation free (ODF).

The Maharashtra Chief Minister also gave updates on several of the state’s sewage treatment projects. The Bhandewadi sewage treatment plant (STP), which started operations in December 2016, has capacity of treating 130 million lakh cubic litre per day of sewage, said Mr Fadnavis. The project would soon move into its second phase during which an additional capacity to treat 150 million lakh cubic litre per day would be created. The STP was also generating 11.5 megawatt of electricity from 900 metric tonnes of waste, said the Chief Minister.

Talking about the water crisis in the state, CM Fadnavis said that used water from power plants, farms and STPs will be available to people, which can be put to use for secondary purposes like using them in toilets. This assumes importance given that Maharashtra faces acute water crisis every year, and much of the crisis has been attributed to industries and factories using freshwater, depleting the level of freshwater available in the state.

Mr Fadnavis said that the state is working towards easing waste disposal mechanisms in an eco-friendly manner.

The state’s performance has been impressive on the overall cleanliness quotient as well, with 28 of Maharashtra’s cities featuring on the list of top 100 cities, as ranked by Swachh Survekshan 2018. Compared to the previous year when just seven of cities from Maharashtra made it to Top 100 clean cities in India.

Also Read: To Curb Open Defecation, Pune Village Communities Open Their Household Toilets For Wari Pilgrims To Use

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.