Accepting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's appeal to industrialists to use their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to keep their cities clean, many industrial houses have contributed to the Swachh Bharat campaign of the government by building infrastructure like toilets.
Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey said that many groups had come up with innovative methods of utilising the CSR funds to keep cities and villages clean.
"The government does not have resources to meet the full demand of the people. So, the private sector has taken lead in collaborating with the government agencies to give impetus to the Swachhata Mission," the Chief Secretary said.
The lead has been taken by Lohia Corp Limited (Lohia Group) which has used its CSR fund for constructing e-toilets in Kanpur. Though the spectrum of CSR works of the company includes beautification and sanitation of the city besides supporting the under-privileged in education, employability activities and religious social activities, the e-toilets have gained popularity among the masses, according to spokesperson of the company, Surendra Tripathi.
Acknowledging that Kanpur Nagar Nigam has limited resources to meet the sanitation demand of the expanding population of the city, the company has taken up the responsibility of keeping the city clean and set up 10 e-toilets in Kanpur, Tripathi disclosed.
The e-toilet unit requires a minimum support in terms of power connection, water supply, sewerage from the municipal authorities. Its use is authorised only with a one rupee coin. The money collected is used for its upkeep only.
Incidentally, on September 11, the Chief Minister had exhorted industrialists to use their CSR funds for construction of infrastructure like school buildings and latrines.