Karnataka Minister HK Patil presents a Gandhi statue to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as Chandrababu Naidu, Harish Rawat, Lal Thanhawla and Karnataka Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee look on in Bengaluru. (Press Trust of India)
NITI Ayog's Chief Ministers Sub-Group on Swachh Bharat Mission headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is likely to submit its report to the central government by August 15.
"Before Independence Day preferably, we want to submit the report to government of India," Mr Naidu told reporters in Bengaluru after chairing a meeting of the Sub-Group comprising Chief Ministers of several states.
The next meeting would be in New Delhi, he said adding "If necessary, we will take respective ministries... finance ministry for tax incentives, urban and rural development ministries..., power ministry and central electricity commission as they will have to give some incentives..."
Apart from Mr Naidu, the meeting was attended by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his counterpart Harish Rawat (Uttarakhand) and Lal Thanhawla (Mizoram).
Chief Ministers of Delhi, Bihar, Sikkim, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Haryana, who are also in the Sub-Group, did not attend the meeting and sent either their ministers or senior officials.
This was the third meeting of the Sub-Group after the first two held in Delhi and Chandigarh.
The Sub-Group was constituted in March last to examine financial requirements for comprehensive implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission and suggest measures for meeting budgetary needs and recommend robust institutional mechanisms for effective implementation among others.
The Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 2 last, aims to rid the country of open defecation by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary year of Mahatma Gandhi.
Mr Siddaramaiah said he suggested that since Swachh Bharat was a centrally-sponsored scheme, 90 per cent of funding should be from the Centre and 10 per cent from the states.
".. we have also requested the Chairman of the sub-group to make this request to the central government in the report," said Mr Siddaramaiah, who in his speech, also said Karnataka would be an open defecation-free state by October 2, 2018, a year ahead of the Centre's deadline.
Asked whether there was unanimity among the Chief Ministers within the sub-group about the request made by Mr Siddaramaiah, Mr Naidu said, "we don't have any difference of opinion, this is one sub-committee and we are working for overall objective."
"We are all one and at the same time we are all very happy to get some funds; at the same time we have to give a practical report, we will work together," he added.
Sharing details about the meeting, Mr Naidu said ".... we have examined all the possibilities and the actions that we need to take for the future."
Stating that six different sub-groups were constituted and they have studied best practices and technologies for solid waste and liquid waste managements, he said "they have visited Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Mizoram, Haryana and West Bengal. They have studied best practices both in rural and urban ares."
Advocating best technology, best practices, cost effective solutions and sustainability, he said "only government cannot do all these things. We want to go to various alternative models in waste management in which energy is one, compost is another, public toilets through CSR or private..."
"Various options of associations, public private partnership were also discussed...." he added.