Over 4,000 urban cities declared open defecation free: Government
What's the story
Over 4,000 urban cities have been declared open defecation free (ODF) under the Swachh Bharat Mission, an official at the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said.
Out of the total 4,378 urban cities, 4,140 have already been declared ODF in the country, he said.
The official said almost all the urban cities will become ODF by the next month under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Details
Coverage of rural sanitation has increased to 98%: President Kovind
The cities are turning into ODF under the Swachh Bharat Mission, a flagship programme of the Narendra Modi government.
Addressing the joint session of Parliament on January 31, President Ram Nath Kovind had said nine crore toilets were constructed under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, underlining that coverage of rural sanitation that was less than 40% in 2014 has increased to 98%.
Data
Ministry achieved 100% target of building community and public toilets
Of the actual targets of building 62,42,220 individual toilets, more than 93% have already been constructed.
"The ministry has achieved the 100% target of building community and public toilets with the construction of five lakh such toilets," the official said.
Apart from this, door-to-door collection of solid waste is in place in 72,503 municipal wards out of 84,229 wards, he said.
Information
Scientific processing of solid waste increased to 50% since 2014
A target of 86% has been achieved in door-to-door collection of solid waste. The scientific processing of solid waste has also gone up over 50%, which was around 18% in 2014 when the cleanliness programme had started, the official added.