The use of toilets should be a "lifestyle" choice for all, especially the poor, Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said Monday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 'World Toilet Congress' here, Naidu proposed: "Making use of toilets as a lifestyle choice by all, and particularly the poor as part of achieving total sanitation in the country."
He elaborated on a three-pronged strategy of promoting awareness about the need for cleanliness, ensuring necessary infrastructure and resorting to penal measures to ensure total sanitation in the country, an official statement said.
Naidu said that at present, none of the 7,135 cities and towns in India qualify to be a "green city" in terms of sanitation.
Only three cities - Chandigarh, Surat and Mysore - and the New Delhi Municipal Council area scored 66 as against 90 required for being a green city.
He said a fresh ranking of cities based on sanitation conditions would be completed by March.
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The minister lamented that $54 billion worth of Gross Domestic Product of the country was being lost every year on account of inadequate sanitation.
He also said 13 percent of people in urban areas defecated in the open.