Four Chief Ministers discussed Swachh Bharat campaign in Bengaluru today
Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Mizoram came together to discuss the feasibility of Swachh Bharat campaign in the NITI Ayog's Chief Ministers Sub-Group in Bengaluru today. Central government had launched the clean India initiative last year on October 2, coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth centenary.
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah praised the initiative that aims to make India free from open defecation by 2019, but it would need 90 per cent funding from the centre. "Our Government supports the vision of the Honourable Prime Minister of India in the Swachh Bharat Mission... Karnataka is already considered a highly taxed State and it would not be possible to increase tax for this purpose," he said.
This was the third such meeting attended by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his counterpart Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), 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.
Mr Naidu, who heads the sub group said, "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..."
This is one of the six sub groups formed by the centre, and has travelled the country to study best practices for solid and liquid waste management. These included looking at how Nadia in West Bengal is 90% open defecation free, the door to door waste collection in Vishakhapatnam, Vishakhapatnam - door to door waste collection, the building of toilets in Karnataka, the sanitation awareness brought by the Mizo Youth Association in Mizoram and how Pune was using waste to generate energy.
The next meeting of chief ministers will be held in New Delhi with the report to be submitted before August 15th.