No changes after Rs 250 crore spent on Swacch Bharat: Opposition
No changes after Rs 250 crore spent on Swacch Bharat: Opposition
While the state government has spent over Rs 250 crore on the Swachh Bharat Mission since last year, the Opposition is of the view that there have been no visible results. The municipal corporation, municipal council and nagar panchayats are covered under the mission that was launched in October 2014. Meanwhile, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has also set October 2016 as deadline for making Maharashtra free of open defecation under the mission.
As per funding obtained under the mission from the state urban development department, municipal corporations have received Rs 36.62 crore from the Centre and Rs 30 crore from the state; nagar parishads have received Rs 92.97 crore from the Centre and Rs 92.15 crore from the state, whereas nagar panchayats have received Rs 6.10 crore from the Centre and Rs 2.43 crore from the state.
Having launched the mission in October 2014, the state government claims to have taken initiatives such as building toilets, creating awareness, garbage disposal etc. “We periodically review the status of funds spent and works done. It will take some time to show visible results,” said an official from the urban development department.
Both Congress and NCP, however, alleged that there have been no visible results in urban pockets. “It seems that most of the money was spent on advertisements and not on actual work. The government should provide figures about how many toilets were built, how many cities or towns were cleaned. In fact, it has halted the most
popular Gadge Maharaj Swachchata Scheme started by our late leader R.R. Patil,” said NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik. Under the said scheme, the responsibility of cleanliness had been given to gram panchayats. The government would appreciate their work and distribute prizes. The BJP-led government halted the scheme since the last two years.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that funds spent on urban areas are very little. “First of all, this BJP government believes in marketing and is zero on the implementation part. The amount given to the urban areas is very low. Even if we consider Mumbai alone, there is nothing for slums, public toilets, etc,” he said.
