Govt exploring ways to mobilise funds for Swachh Bharat Kosh

New Delhi, Jul 6 ()

Finance Ministry

and the

Ministry for Drinking Water and Sanitation

(DWS) will meet next week to deliberate on ways to mobilise more funds for the Swachh Bharat Kosh (

SBK

). Established in November 2014 under the

Finance

Ministry, SBK has been set up to attract

CSR

funds and contributions from individuals and philanthropists in response to the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2014 to achieve the objective of 'Clean India' (Swachh Bharat) by 2019. "

Finance Secretary

will chair a meeting on July 12 with me, which will also include heads of 40-50

PSUs

to explore ways to get more contributions for SBK," Ministry of DWS Secretary

Parameswaran Iyer

told reporters here. Total fund mobilised under the SBK as on January 31, 2016 stood at Rs 369.74 crore. Companies contributed more than Rs 42 crore towards SBK as part of their CSR activities in 2014-15. Addressing a press conference,

Iyer

enumerated the contributions made by ministries of mines,

corporate affairs

and public enterprises towards the Swachh Bharat Pakhwada held during June 16-30. Mines Secretary

Balvinder Kumar

said state-run aluminium maker

Nalco

will adopt the vicinity of the Lord

Jagannath Temple

at

Puri

in Odisha to transform it into a modern pilgrimage site. Similarly,

Hindustan Zinc Ltd

will take the responsibility of transforming the vicinity of the

Ajmer Sharif

dargah in Rajasthan, he added. "Also we are pursuing mining companies and PSUs to adopt 200 villages and maker them open defecation free by February 28, 2017. We have asked

Indian Bureau of Mines

to ask mine lease owners to adopt a village in their vicinity for Swachh Bharat Mission,"

Kumar

said. Corporate Affairs Secretary

Tapan Ray

his ministry is working towards sensitising corporates on the Swachh Bharat initiative. "We have reached out to around 11 lakh corporate entities through email on Swachh Bharat. Also, we have engaged 15 lakh professionals as well got online pledges for 20 lakh people for keeping the country clean," he added. The ministry also reached out to over 58,000 people through social media about the importance of a clean India and the Swachh Bharat Mission, Ray said.

Department of Public Enterprises

Secretary

Ameising Luikham

said his department has reached out to 235 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and has asked them to carry out the Swachh Bharat drive. JTR RNK ABM
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