Maharashtra CM launches ‘Maha Swachhata Abhiyan’ at Gateway of India

MUMBAI : Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday launched ‘Maha Swachhata Abhiyan’ at the iconic Gateway of India in Mumbai.

Deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Mumbai City District Guardian Minister Deepak Kesarkar, Mumbai Suburban District Guardian Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, and BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal were present at the launch and will be involved prominently with this campaign.

Chief Minister Shinde paid obeisance at the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and paid floral tributes at the statue of Swami Vivekananda.
The Swachh Bharat Mission is a nationwide campaign that aims to clean up streets, roads and other public infrastructure across cities, towns and rural areas.

The objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism for monitoring toilet use.

To accelerate the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage and focus on sanitation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission on October 2, 2014.

It is the country’s largest cleanliness drive to date, with three million government employees and students from all parts participating in campaigns across 4,041 cities, towns and rural areas.

#WATCH | Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde launches 'Maha Swachhata Abhiyan' at Gateway of India, in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/gHHhigULat

— ANI (@ANI) December 31, 2023

Prime Minister Modi has called the campaign ‘Satyagraha se Swachhagraha’, drawing majorly from Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha launched on April 10, 1917.

The mission has two thrusts: Swachh Bharat Mission (‘gramin’ or ‘rural’), which operates under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Swachh Bharat Mission (‘urban’), which operates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The Centre, in February 2020, approved Phase-II of the SBM-G with a total outlay of Rs. 1,40,881 crores to focus on the sustainability of the ODF status and to cover the villages with Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) that would transform villages from ODF to ODF Plus by 2024-25. (ANI)