Hard Work and Community Participation Made Maharashtra Open Defecation Free
Housing and Drinking Water Supply Till
2019: CM, Devendra Fadnavis
New
Delhi, Oct. 1: ‘Today the State of Maharashtra
is completely an Open Defecation Free State. It is because of the hard work,
community participation and the initiatives taken at the State level, informed
the Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis at the Mahatma Gandhi International
Sanitation Convention, today. The objective of providing Housing For All and
drinking water in rural sector will also be achieved by December 2019 year end,
he added.
Shri Devendra Fadnavis was
addressed at Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban and The Sustainable development
Goals', at the four-day convention organized by the Ministry of Drinking Water
and Sanitation at Pravasi Bhartiya Bhavan. It was inaugurated by the President,
Shri Ramnath Kovind on Saturday. Sharing
the dais today, were the Union Drinking Water and Supply Minister, Sushri Uma
Bharti and UNICEF’s Executive Director, Ms Henrietta H. Fore.
Informing about the
dedicated efforts taken to make the State ODF completely, the Chief Minister
informed that, “In the last 65 years, only 45% households in the state were
given toilets. But we have ensured that within three and a half years of our
rule, the remaining 55% are given toilets. We have given toilets to 60.41 lakh
households at a cost of ₹4,500 crore, which was borne by the State and the
Centre.”
Maharashtra’s
28 Cities – Highest number of cities under Cleanliness Survey
After becoming ODF, the chief minister informed that plans
of sustainability were provided to every Village Panchayat, encouraging them by
presenting awards every year. Even kids engaged themselves in this awareness
drive. We have also done a lot of work on clean water & all this has lead
to creation of jobs gearing up economic development.
Maharashtra was invited to
share its success story with global leaders, since it tops the list. ‘Solid waste management is our next priority
after achieving great success of ODF Maharashtra’, informed the chief minister. Adding further, Shri Fadnavis said that the government
built 22.51 lakh toilets in 2017-18 alone. “Now since we have constructed
toilets, the next stage will be to ensure that people use them, he added’. The chief
minister also informed that, to ensure that people do not defecate in open,
initiatives such as ‘good morning squads’ and ‘whistle squads’ are on the guard.
As
per the data made available by the State government, over 40,500 villages have
been given toilets since 2014. Apart
from individual households, the government has built 2.81 lakh public toilets.
Housing
And Drinking Water Supply for All Till 2019
Speaking on the rural area
witnessing major transformation with many such initiatives, Shri Fadnavis said
that now our priority has shifted to provide Housing for all to rural sector
along with provision of drinking water supply.
Adding further, he informed that this is one another ambitious project
of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. Though the Centre aims to provide
housing to all by 2022, however, we have set our target to achieve it much
before time, informed the chief minister.
Under this Scheme, so far 4
lakh houses have been constructed. However, follow up with Centre to sanction
additional 6 lakh houses is under way. With this, after the central sanctions,
2 lakh houses would be constructed and by December 2019, a total of 12 lakh
households in rural sector would be constructed, assured the Chief Minister.
Expressing faith in the
ambitious Swachhata campaign launched by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi
for the country becoming ODF by 2019, it seemed to be quite an impossible task,
however, with inspirational leadership & people’s participation we have
been able to create wonders, expressed Shri Fadnavis.
A total of 68 countries have
participated in this convention with 160 International representatives and the
convention will conclude on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment