Prime Minister Narendra Modi has forwarded letters to industrialists, sportsmen, celebrities urging them to participate in the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ movement. However, the government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is merely seen as a photo-op event where politicians and celebrities are more interested in seeking publicity on October 2. The next day people forget about cleanliness as huge pile of garbage is visible on the road as nobody seems to bother about disposing them. In many localities of the city garbage remains unattended for many days as people have to bear the foul smell emanating from them.
Last year too, the Modi government had organised the cleanliness campaign with much fanfare but it failed to sustain. Even Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had arrived in Mumbai but he was seen cleaning those areas which were already well maintained. The government also had levied Swachh Bharat cess on taxable services but the money generated out of it is not used for maintaining cleanliness. Last month, Mumbai had witnessed heavy rainfall as many parts of the city were flooded due to garbage thrown in the nullahs. Thus, the government will have to do much work on ground, overhaul the garbage collection policy and effectively implement waste segregation plan to prevent flooding.
The Modi government had launched the Swachh Bharat Mission to make India open defecation free by 2019. However, the toilet construction work is happening at a snail’s pace in rural and urban areas; hence, the government will not be able to achieve its objective of defecation free India.