More Than 3 Crore Toilets Built So Far Under Swachh India Campaign

New Delhi: It has been two and a half years since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and the government’s fight for better sanitation and against open defecation. From building toilets to educating people about cleanliness, waste management and hygiene, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has become a mass movement. Today, the government took to twitter and published a five year report on the overall sanitation coverage in India.

As per the report, India’s sanitation coverage in 2012 was merely 38 per cent which has currently increased to 60.53 per cent under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

“Since the inception of #SwachhBharat Mission, India has seen a massive growth in good sanitation practices. Let’s keep the momentum going!”

To encourage sanitation practices, the government have constructed more than 3 crore toilets since October 2014.

Also Read: 2016, The Year That Was: Highlights Of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan After 2 Years

On April 10, earlier this month Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated an exhibition titled ‘Swachhagrah – Bapu Ko Karyanjali – Ek Abhiyan, Ek Pradarshani’ to mark 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha, where he emphasised on cleanliness and sanitation levels in India.

Urging the nation to embark upon the journey of ‘Swachhagraha’, PM Modi said, “Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of cleanliness, healthy environment and prosperity should become everyone’s dream.”

He further termed the problem of open defecation as one of the major challenges to sanitation. Since 2014 more than 1, 80,000 villages, 130 districts and three states- Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF).

The Government aims to declare five more states- Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Mizoram and Uttarakhand ODF by end of this year.

The Swachh Bharat project is divided into two categories- Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), and aims to have a completely open-defecation free and a ‘Swachh’ India by 2019, which is the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Also Read: 1,80,000 Villages, 130 Districts, 3 States Go Open Defecation Free: PM Modi