NEW DELHI: To strengthen the ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) announced that it would construct 10,000 toilets in government schools over the next one-and-a-half years.
Maintaining that the CII would work to make Swachh Bharat a reality, president designate of CII Sumit Mazumdar has launched ‘Mission -Sanitation of Schools (SoS)’, an initiative to work with companies on construction of toilets across the country.
”The CII will mobilise construction of 10,000 toilets in the first phase, which will be done by the end of fiscal year 2015-2016. Based on the feedback received and assessments on ground, in the next six months, the CII will announce targets for the second phase,” Mazumdar said.
Currently, it is estimated, that per unit cost of construction (toilet block for girl + toilet block for boys) will range from Rs 2 - 5 lakh.
The states that will be covered in the first phase include Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala.
Mazumdar said that the CII will support enterprises in construction and maintenance of toilets and help them identify where it needs to be built.
The CII’s task force will work to promote and facilitate industry participation towards sanitation in government schools, while also create a mechanism for maintenance, periodic monitoring, evaluation, impact assessment and reporting.
“With greater emphasis on structured Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from this year, companies are keen on increasing their engagement through specific projects and we expect the industry to wholeheartedly support and participate in the ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative”, said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Chairman, CII National Council on CSR.