Union Housing and Urban Affiars (HUA)Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday claimed the Government would meet the target of construction of 72 lakh household and public toilets in urban areas under the Swachchh Bharat Mission a year ahead of the schedule of October 2, 2019, and stressed that behavioural change among people was at the “heart” of cleanliness mission which would ensure its success.
The HUA Minister said that the success of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would hugely depend on the success of India just as the success of China in taking people out of poverty led to the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Minister said the Government has set a target of building 67 lakh household toilets and five lakh community or public toilets in urban areas by October 2019.
“As on March 31, we have already built 52 lakh individual household toilets and 3.2 lakh public toilets...Well one year in advance of October 2019, well before October 2018, we would build the required amount of toilets in the urban areas of the country,” he said while addressing 'India Sanitation Conclave 2018', organised by industry body FICCI.
The Swachh Bharat Mission (Clean India Mission) aims to achieve 100 per cent open defecation free (ODF) and scientific solid waste management in India by October 2, 2019, the 150th birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The scheme is implemented by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry in urban areas and the Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry is responsible for rural areas.
Stressing that the mission started as the government project and later turned into a 'jan andolan' (people's movement), Puri said the “heart of the issue” is the behavioural change which is necessary for the success of the mission.
He also asked the private sector to play an active role at grassroots level in effecting behavioural change in people such as maintaining and using toilets.
Speaking about the management of solid waste -- another component of the cleanliness mission, Puri said, “I am afraid that the capacity augmentation which is required is taking place at a very fast rate but I would like to see that (waste management projects') completion and that give me sometimes a little cause for anxiety. land is a state subject and the only way to deal with it is through participation of stakeholders.”