India Inc and public sector undertakings (PSUs) Thursday joined the Clean India campaign by pledging support and financial aid under corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
Industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) launched 'Mission -Sanitation of Schools (SoS)' drive under which it will work with companies to construct toilets across the country.
"We have set up a mechanism to create awareness and encourage industry participation through our network of 64 offices in India, spread across 26 states and two union territories," said Sumit Mazumder, president designate, CII, and chairman, TIL Ltd.
"CII will mobilise construction of 10,000 toilets in the first phase, which is, by the end of fiscal year 2015-16. Based on the feedback and assessments on ground, in the next six months CII will announce targets for the second phase," it said.
Currently, it is estimated that per unit cost of construction of a toilet block for girls and separate block for boys will range from Rs.2 to Rs.5 lakh, depending on availability of water and other facilities.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) started cleaning activities at its own headquarters here.
"We are happy and encouraged by the prime minister's call for a 'Clean India' by 2019. FICCI shares his vision for 'Swachch Bharat' and agrees that the entire nation needs to come forward and commit itself to this noble initiative," said A. Didar Singh, secretary general, FICCI.
The state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) too launched its special cleaning drive at its facilities in various cities.
The PSU has identified 765 schools for construction of toilets in 37 districts in the country.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal announced that PSUs under his ministry will build one lakh toilets in schools within a year.
Goyal pointed out that there were enormous economic benefits of making the country clean like increase in tourism, employment opportunities and income.
