The government today said it is preparing a roadmap for systematically taking forward the cleanliness drive at iconic places in the country, where cleanliness has improved by 40 to 60 per cent.
Replying to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar said cleanliness is a state subject and the Centre was doing everything to promote it across the country.
"All MPs have made an effort to promote cleanliness under 'Adarsh Gram Yojna'. PSUs have been involved in promoting cleanliness at iconic places like Vaishno Devi, Taj Mahal, Golden temple and Jagannath temple.
"I am happy to inform that the roadmap of cleanliness drive is taking shape in a proper way and cleanliness has improved by 40 to 60 per cent at such places," he said.
Tomar said a corporate collaboration framework has been prepared for systematically involving the corporate sector in advancing the "Swachh Bharat Mission". The Centre has also written to states in this regard.
He said many corporates have announced taking up works in rural areas which are being carried out in consultation with the state governments.
The minister also informed the members that cleanliness across the country has improved from 35.22 per cent to 65.32 per cent, but the target of total cleanliness is yet to be achieved.
He told the House that the government has so far constructed 4.07 lakh toilets in the country, including 2.19 lakh in 2016-17 and 1.26 crore in 2015-16 and 58 lakh 2014-15.
The country's 150 districts have become open defecation- free and five states of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Kerala have already declared themselves as open defecation free.
Anubhav Mohanty (BJD) earlier sought to embarrass the government by mentioning about a picture of a Union Minister doing open defecation, which had gone viral on social media, and said such things have a very bad effect on the cleanliness drive.
Taking a dig, he asked whether the picture was also a part of the Rs 20,0000 crore budget earmarked by the Centre for cleanliness.
Tomar said the government's efforts are to ensure that the campaign runs positively and no negativity comes into it.
It is the responsibility of every individual to work towards total santisation mission, the minister said.
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