Mumbai, October 16, 2017: Plan India, a leading child development organisation committed to creating a lasting impact in the lives of vulnerable and excluded children, their families and communities; along with its patron Anil Kapoor, and the newly appointed ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission, today launched the ‘Swachh Chembur, Swachh Bharat’ project at The Grand Nalanda, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar College in Chembur, Mumbai. An initiative of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the project aims to improve access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in Chembur and help the community achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status and enable proper management of solid and liquid waste in the course of the next year.
As part of the project, Anil Kapoor will campaign with the City Municipal Corporation and other government stakeholders in ‘Pestom Sagar’ and ‘Ameerbagh’ slum settlements of Chembur, for the construction, operation and maintenance of community toilets, support for construction of household toilets, door to door collection of solid waste and its management, including street sweeping and extend sewer connection to the slums. As part of this initiative, Plan India would also work closely with the schools and the Anganwadi centres of the area and would campaign for the adoption of safe hygiene practices by improving access to WASH facilities, which directly benefits girls and young women. In addition, Mr. Kapoor along with Plan India will conduct quarterly review meetings involving all the stakeholders (government, community, children and youth) to monitor the progress, and call for a plan of action on upcoming initiatives.
Speaking at the launch of the project, Anil Kapoor, Patron of Plan India and Ambassador of Swachh Bharat Mission said, “I am extremely honoured to be a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, and partake in this national movement to contribute to the Government’s objective of making India clean. Chembur is very close to my heart as I spent a memorable part of my early childhood days in this area, and I am confident that the community here will support me in making Chembur open defecation free and practice hygienic behaviour in the next year. I, along with Plan India, am committed to improve the water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in Chembur, and we are optimistic that Chembur will lead by example for other areas in Mumbai, to adopt safe sanitation and hygiene practices.”
As a part of the larger initiative under Swachh Bharat Mission, Plan India will identify slums in cities of other states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Telangana to implement similar interventions, with the objective of helping them incorporate safe sanitation and hygiene practices and achieve open defecation free status.
Plan India is a National Key Resource Centre of the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation since 2011 and is a leader in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene management. Through Plan India’s sanitation interventions, about 2.5 million people have gained access to sanitation and improved their hygiene behaviours. Plan India is currently delivering programmes covering 2 million children and their families spread across 6,000 villages, 300 districts and 16 states of India and its Country Strategic Plan (2016-2020) aims to reach 10 million marginalised girls and young women in 24 states.
About Plan India
Plan India is a nationally registered independent child development organisation committed to creating a lasting impact in the lives of vulnerable and excluded children, their families and communities. For over 35 years, Plan India and its partners have improved the lives of millions of children by providing them access to protection, basic education, proper healthcare, a healthy environment, livelihood opportunities and participation in decisions which affect their lives.
For more information, please visit: www.planindia.org.