New Delhi, Oct 2 (UNI) The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on Friday celebrated the
sixth anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U).
Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C), MoHUA on Friday said that 'today, as we complete six
years of SBM-U, it is time to reaffirm the pledge that we all together took - to come together for a Swachhatam Bharat, a Swasthatam Bharat – a cleaner, healthier India and further fortify the Jan Andolan that all urban Indians are a part of.'
During his address in a webinar titled 'Swachhata Ke 6 Saal, Bemisaal' to celebrate the sixth anniversary of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U), Mr Puri said that this spirit of Jan Andolan and Jan Bhagidari – the power of collective action and leveraging a healthy spirit of competition – is exemplified by the Swachh Survekshan, the annual cleanliness survey of MoHUA. In SS 2020, over 12 crores of citizens have participated in the survey.
The webinar organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs here today celebrated the achievements of the past six years under the Mission along with experience sharing by States and cities and partner organizations and also marks the 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The webinar was chaired by Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C), MoHUA along with
Mr Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA and Mr Kamran Rizvi, Additional Secretary, MoHUA.
At the occasion, Mr Puri said, 'When SBM-U was launched in 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was with the vision of achieving 'Clean India' by 2nd October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation. Today, I feel immensely proud, as well as humbled, to see how every citizen of urban India has come together to make that dream a tangible reality. This is nothing but the result of the collective efforts of the overwhelming participation of citizens, thousands of Swachhata ambassadors, lakhs of Swachhagrahis, several mass media campaigns and direct outreach programs which has led to SBM-U assuming an unimaginable scale.'
Mr Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA who made a detailed presentation on the achievements of the Mission, added, 'When SBM-U was launched on 2nd October 2014, it was with the objective of making urban India Open Defecation Free (ODF) along with complete solid waste management (SWM) in all statutory towns in the country.
'Today, we have not only achieved our targets but propelled the country on the path of sustainable
sanitation and holistic SWM through protocols such as ODF+ and ODF++, Star Rating for Garbage
Free Cities and our annual cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan which needs no introduction.
'From a position of zero ODF states and cities in 2014, more than 97 per cent of our cities have today become ODF. In SWM, from a meagre 18 per cent of solid waste that was being processed in 2014, we have gone up to 67 per cent of waste being processed, and more than 77 per cent wards are practising source segregation. We intend to continue our efforts and ensure that these numbers see substantial improvement in the next few years.'
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