Speaking at the 9th foundation day of The Foundation for Restoration of National Values Union Urban Development Minister Shri Naidu said that Swachh Bharat Mission, launched in October, 2014 has gained significant momentum over the last three years. He said that 33,76,793 Individual Household Toilets and 1,28,946 Community Toilet Seats have so far been built. The Minister said that 688 cities have been so far declared Open Defecation free (ODF) and 531 of them have been independently verified and certified as ODF. Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have declared all cities and towns as ODF, he added. Shri Naidu said that 100% Door to Door collection and transport of Municipal Solid Waste has been achieved in 43,200 wards out of the total 81,015 urban wards.
He further said that the initiative Swachh Bharat Mission has truly become a people’s movement in the country and it is only because of involvement of public representatives, SHGs, officials, media, NGOs, UN agencies, celebrities, educational institutions, trade unions, business icons and spiritual leaders.
Shri Naidu said that Swachh Bharat Mission is the biggest ever mass mobilization undertaken, to make our country clean. He said that women are playing a key role in this movement. He cited some instances like,
· Sangita Ahwale of Saikheda village in Washim district Maharashtra has sold her ‘mangalsutra’ to build a toilet.
· 104 year old Kunwar Bai of Kotabharri village in Dhamtari district of Chattisgarh sold her goats to do the same.
· 20 year old Priyanka Adivasi of Gopalpur village of Kolras block returned to her parents as there is no toilet at her in-laws house and her husband now promised to build one.
· A Muslim woman in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh gifted a toilet to her new daughter-inn-law since she did not want the new member of her family suffer the way she did without a toilet.
· A school girl Lavanaya from Karnataka went on hunger strike demanding toilets for all the 80 households in her village.
· A few weeks ago, Versova beach in Mumbai, which was infamous for its filth has now transformed into a clean and beautiful beach. People toiled for about 80-90 weeks, extracting thousands of tonnes of waste materials. This campaign was owned by Versova residence volunteer, a gentleman called Afroz Shah who started this mission from October, 2015 whole-heartedly with all his might and slowly people started joining his bandwagon and turned it into a people's movement.
श्री नायडू ने कहा कि अक्टूबर 2014 में लांच किया गया स्वच्छ भारत मिशन हमारे देश को स्वच्छ रखने की खातिर देशवासियों को जोड़ने का अब तक का सबसे बड़ा अभियान है। श्री नायडू ने कहा कि इस मिशन ने पिछले तीन वर्षों में महत्वपूर्ण प्रगति की है। उन्होंने कहा कि अब तक 33,76,793 व्यक्तिगत घरेलू शौचालयों और 1,28,946 सामुदायिक शौचालय सीटों का निर्माण किया गया है। मंत्री महोदय ने कहा कि अब तक 688 शहरों एवं कस्बों को खुले में शौच मुक्त (ओडीएफ) घोषित किया गया है और इनमें से 531 शहरों एवं कस्बों को स्वतंत्र रूप से सत्यापित किया गया है और फिर ओडीएफ के रूप में प्रमाणित किया गया है।
