With its action plan ready, the Government is hoping to make the surroundings of 10 iconic places in the country including Taj Mahal, Vaishno Devi temple and Ajmer Sharif spic and span within a year under the Swachchh Bharat Mission.
Akshay Rout, OSD in the Union Water and Sanitation Ministry, said separate action plan for each ten identified tourists hotspots were finalised last week, aiming to ensure international standards for cleanliness.
Each plan has a timeline of two, six, nine and 12 months, and, the Ministry hopes that results will be distinctly visible as the plan progresses. The plan has been framed after intensive consultation with the State representatives and consultants from the international bodies like World Bank in keeping the region requirement.
Focus will be majorly on the exterior of the hotspots, which witness huge footfalls every year.
The coverage area for cleanliness including sanitation has been kept flexible, depending on the limitations, Rout said on the sidelines of a briefing on Swachchh Bharat Pakhwada (fortnight) observed by Ministries of Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sports here on Friday.
For instance, Rout said that in the case of Taj Mahal in Agra, cleanliness drive will be undertaken on Agra Westgate to Fatehpur Sikri route where focus will be on solid waste management while in Vaishno Devi temple, Katra will be covered, being access point to the temple. The region is also facing sanitation problem due to excessive mule dung that litters the path to the temple.
Apart from Vaishno Devi temple, Taj Mahal, and Ajmer Sharif, Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, Golden Temple in Punjab, Jagannath temple in Orissa, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Maharashtra, Manikarnika Ghat in Uttar Pradesh, Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu and Kamakhya Temple in Assam have been selected for cleanliness drive.
The official said the Ministry is also in the process of selecting 90 other iconic places for cleaning under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme and most will be either tourist or religious spots.
Major part of funds will be coming from corporate sponsorship and various programmes and schemes of the Centre like Hriday and respective State Government.