Govt seeks participation of corporate firms in ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign

NEW DELHI: To give a major boost to the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign ahead of October 2, the government has asked corporate houses to adopt districts to make its flagship initiative a big success, and has initiated compiling data regarding such corporate funding.

Noting that corporate houses can play a big role in the government’s ‘Clean India’ programme, an official said, “They have the money power which can be dedicated to the social movement in a big way. These corporate houses can adopt districts of their choice and make the central move a success.”

The government is already in talks with corporate houses for such a proposal, officials said.

While some corporate houses were doing their bit for the cleanliness drive, much more needed to be done, they said.

The government has also initiated the process of compiling data regarding corporate funding in the programme.

“A lot of corporate houses are contributing financially for cleanliness programme, but since it’s at various levels, the Centre has not yet been able to monitor the corporate funding, a proper compilation of date needs to be done,” the official said. Meanwhile, water supply and sanitation secretary Parmeswaran Iyer, while addressing a ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ (Cleanliness is Service) event, laid emphasis on bringing positive behavioural change in people to make the country open defecation free.

The ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign comes to an end on October 2.

Iyer also advocated a nonconfrontational approach to achieve the sanitation objectives. He was responding to queries by volunteers, who narrated their experiences and problems faced by them while undertaking awareness campaign.

‘Swachh Sena’ or the volunteers should remember that “the motive cannot be achieved by confrontation. There is a clear government directive that the goal needs to be achieved positively without going into confrontation,” Iyer added.

The government had on October 2, 2014 launched the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, or Clean India Campaign, to promote sanitation.