By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Wednesday announced the launch of National Urban Sanitation Policy that targets to achieve total sanitation in urban areas, especially in slums.
”The policy targets hygienic and affordable sanitation facilities for the urban poor and will ensure improved cleanliness in cities and towns,” Urban Development Secretary M. Ramchandran said.
”As per 2001 census, of the 285 million urban population in India, 26 percent of the households do not have access to toilets and almost 50 million people defecate in the open,” Ramchandran said.
He, however, added that the actual investment required for the project was not yet decided.
“We are setting deadline of one year for states to come up with their own models. Also this will give us some estimate of investment and timeline required for the implementation of the project,” the secretary said.
Awareness generation, elimination of open defecation, integrated citywide sanitation, safe disposal and proper operation and maintenance of all sanitary installations are some of the goals of the project.
As per the policy, the government will support states to build their personnel capacities and organisational systems for delivery of sanitation services.
The government will collaborate with the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank for this project. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh have already started working on it.