The Chief Ministers of four States and senior functionaries from five other States met in Chandigarh on Tuesday to take forward the Centre’s ambitious ‘Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan’ across the country.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, as the convener of the sub-group of Chief Ministers on ‘Swachchh Bharat Abhiyaan’ presided over the meeting, which was attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar, Mizoram Chief Minister lal Thanhawla, Cabinet Ministers and senior functionaries from other States and the Centre.
The sub group, apart from Chandrababu Naidu, consists of Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Sikkim, West Bengal, and Uttarakhand as members.
After the second meeting of the sub-group, Chandrababu Naidu while addressing a Press conference here said that several recommendations were put forth by the various members of the sub-group on Tuesday.
Representatives from eight States participated in Tuesday’s meeting including four Chief Ministers. Three departments of Government of India gave detailed presentations in the meeting about technical availability in India to improve the sanitation level, he said.
Naidu said that it has been decided to study the best technologies and practices of sanitation available in all the States even the non-participating States. More emphasis would be laid on adoption of practical solution both in rural and urban areas to achieve the targets of the mission. “Modalities would also be worked out to give incentives like tax exemptions for setting up projects of waste to energy conversions,” he added.
While describing the garbage management an universal problem, he said that “every country in the world is working to deal with this problem and many have achieved remarkable results”.
Citing example of Singapore, he said that the country has achieved total sanitation as heavy fine is imposed for any violation. Similarly, China is doing wonderful in this direction and Japanese has a culture of cleanliness imbibed in their genes, he added.
In reply to a question, Naidu said that “we want to replicate the best practices and technologies for achieving the desired target under the Swachchh Bharat Mission for making India a clean country by October 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
When asked about the absence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and if only BJP ruled States and NDA allies are participating in the meeting, Naidu refrained from commenting and said that representatives from all States have come and everybody is taking active part in the mission.