Mission Director of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Praveen Prakash visited some pockets of Mumbai and reviewed BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation’s preparedness.
Mumbai braces for a new Swachh Bharat survey;
1.15 lakh toilets to be built by December 2016
A new sanitation survey under the Swachh Bharat Mission will be undertaken between January 5-20, 2016 in 75 major cities to review sanitation and hygiene conditions.
On a day long visit to Mumbai today, the Mission Director of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Praveen Prakash visited some pockets of Mumbai and reviewed BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation’s preparedness.
Addressing a press conference after his field visits, Mr. Prakash said BMC has set out an ambitious target of building 1.15 lakh toilets by December 2016. He said the All India target under the Swachh Bharat Mission is to build 25 lakh toilets, against which 8 lakh toilets have already been constructed. Stressing upon behavioural change, Mr. Prakash called upon BMC to step up its public awareness drive about Swachh Bharat initiatives.
The Mission Director informed media persons that the centre has laid greater stress on solid waste management. “Swachh Bharat Mission aims at ensuring door-to-door garbage collection and disposal of municipal solid waste in all the 80,000 wards in urban areas by 2019. The municipal bodies are encouraged to convert waste into compost as well as generate electricity” he said. Mr. Prakash further added that it would be made obligatory for local Discoms to buy power generated from municipal waste.
The Mission Director appealed to citizens to actively participate in the 75 city survey being conducted by the Quality Council of India. He said the new survey would be based on data provided by the municipal bodies, field inspections and citizen feedback through an IVRS questionnaire. Any citizen can take part in the survey by giving a missed call on toll free number 1800 267 2777, which will be open till January 15, 2015.
Mr. Prakash said “the survey parameters have been aligned with the objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission, with more emphasis on solid waste management”. In the earlier survey of 476 cities, in which Mumbai was ranked 147th, solid waste management had a weightage of only 13%, as against 60% in the new survey. Household and community toilets have a weightage of 30% and city level sanitation plans and Information, Behaviour Change Communication 10%.
The results of the survey will be announced on the MyGov website on January 25, 2015.
PIB Mum | IVJ (MD)
