As the Swachh Bharat Mission celebrates its first anniversary on Oct 2, the Government has decided to rank public places on cleanliness parameters to take the initiative to the next level. Besides, sanitation modules are also likely to be introduced in school curriculum.
At a meeting presided by the Union Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu, held on Wednesday, it was decided to grade railway stations, airports, shipyards, hospitals, schools, colleges and tourist destinations across the country on the degree of sanitation.
A panel of ministers, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju, Health & Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda, Environment, Forests & Climate Change Minister Prakash Javdekar, Tourism & Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjiv Balian, and Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, participated in the discussion. Besides, secretaries of 12 ministries were also present at the brainstorming session.
“As desired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the focus is to transform the Mission into an Andolan, a Jan Andolan,” Naidu said at the meeting.
In a post-meeting tweet, the Minister said: “Sanitation modules will be introduced in school curriculum.”
The Mission will be added more features this year to encourage sanitation among both citizens and civic agencies.
The Government has further planned to undertake 11 theme-based sanitation campaigns in urban areas in the coming months. The key focus will be across transportation, agriculture, tourism, heritage, education, hospitals, government buildings, etc.
Environment Minister Javdekar said that with regard to the management of solid waste, e-waste and bio-medical waste, the ministry will come out with final notifications soon.
