Govt plans Yamuna gram scheme to make villages open defecation free

New Delhi: After the Ganga gram scheme, the government plans to take up a similar project for the Yamuna to make villages on its banks open defecation free as part of Swachh Bharat Mission.

In his budget speech, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while praising the mission, had specially mentioned about the Ganga gram scheme and declared that all 4,465 villages on the banks of the river had been declared open defecation free.

Riding on the success story of Ganga gram scheme, the Centre now plans to take up the same project to make the villages on the banks of the Yamuna river open defecation free.

"I know the problem of pollution of the Yamuna river. We have made all villages on the banks of Ganga open defecation free. I want to take the same project for the Yamuna too. It will be done through active participation of the gram panchayats and the people living in those villages. It will also control the pollution of the river," Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti said.

Bharti had launched the Ganga Gram project last December as part of the government's Namami Gange mission for holistic sanitation development in 4,470 villages on the banks of the river.

She had said that the Yamuna gram scheme will be part of the sanitation drive along with the solid waste management to take care of the polluting elements on the banks of the river.