Centre to spend Rs 2 lakh crore by 2019 for 'Clean India'

The Centre will spend nearly Rs 2 lakh crore in five-year time as part of its ambitious plan to completely clean India by October 2019, coinciding with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said this after unveiling the logo for the 'Swachh Bharat Mission' (Clean India Mission), along with Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Nitin Gadkari here.

While the Urban Development Ministry will allocate Rs 62,000 crore for cleaning towns across the country, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation will spend Rs 1 lakh 34 thousand crores for the programme to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2.

Talking about the initiatives taken by the Government to achieve this goal in five years, Naidu said, "We have a plan to approach icons from various fields. Because the prime minister desires that this should become a people's movement."

"...We have requested Ramakrishna Mission, Patanjali Yoga Peeth of Baba Ram Dev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Gayatri Parivar, and we have also contacted various maths including Kanchi Kamakoti Peeth, Siddha Ganga Math in Karnataka," he said.

Naidu said that the Union government will also approach Muslim and Christian religious organisation including Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Bishops' Council of India and seek their cooperation in making India open defecation free in five years.

"The idea is to involve religious spiritual and social leaders," he said.

The logo, launched by Naidu and Gadkari, contains the spectacles of Mahatma Gandhi with the bridge of the spectacles in the national tricolour.

"It signifies the entire nation uniting to achieve the vision of Mahatma Gandhi for a clean India. The tagline 'Ek Kadam Swachata Ki Aur' exhorts all citizens to contribute in their own way towards achieving a Swachh Bharat," Naidu said.