Suresh Raina Bats For Clean India Mission, Launches Swachh Shauchalaya Campaign

New Delhi: Cricketer Suresh Raina, who has been part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiative, launched the Swachh Shauchalaya campaign today, along with Member of Parliament Manoj Tiwari and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). The campaign which focusses on the cleanliness of toilets and behavior change of public toilet users in the country was launched at Gyan Bharati School, New Delhi. The campaign aims to generate a sense of responsibility and ownership among users so that people ensure that public toilets are used sensibly so that they remain usable for others. Also present on the occasion, Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoUD), emphasised on the need to understand that public toilets play an important role in eradicating open defecation and urination in urban areas.

In his address, Mr Mishra also elaborated on how problems that prevent regular use of public toilets are being addressed through a number of initiatives, including:

1. Outsourcing of operation and management (O&M) services to private agencies
2. Installation of toilet feedback polls
3. Toilet locator functionality on Google maps for improving usage of public toilets

“Water supply provisioning for public toilets is being addressed through convergence with the #AMRUT mission,” the secretary tweeted.

Launched by Prime Minister Modi in June 2015, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) aims to provide basic civic amenities like water supply, sewerage, urban transport and parks so as to improve the quality of life for all, especially the poor and the disadvantaged. The Mission, which covers around 500 cities with a population of over one lakh with notified municipalities, focusses on infrastructure creation that has a direct link to provision of better services to the citizens.

Students attending the launch event also took part in a Q & A session with Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Ambassador Suresh Raina to understand the importance of both swachhta and sports, and also shared their thoughts on the same.

Suresh Raina urged everyone to work towards the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to make India clean and green:

During the launch, the left-handed batsman along with Manoj Tiwari also participated in a session of cricket with the students.

At the launch event, Mr Mishra also requested the students to take part in cleanliness activities at both school and community level, and spread the message of #SwachhShauchalaya campaign to make it a success.