Chandigarh: The Punjab Government today signed memorandum of understanding with the Bharti Foundation for providing 20,000 toilets to rural households. On behalf of Water supply & Sanitation Department, Director Ashwani Kumar IAS and on behalf of Bharti Foundation, Chief Executive Officer Vijay Chadda signed the MOU.         

Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson of the Punjab Government said that Punjab is the only state in the country which is working in collaboration with any private organisation for contributing in the Swachh Bharat Mission. 

He said that the Bharti Foundation is collaborating with the Punjab Government under the ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’, well-known sanitation initiative of the Bharti Foundation for Swachh Punjab Mission.The spokesperson told that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed today by the Bharti foundation with the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, Punjab is to jointly provide 20,000 toilets for rural households in District Amritsar. 

The spokesperson further said that as per the MoU, Bharti Foundation has joined hands with the Department of Water Supply & Sanitation for providing financial assistance for the construction of 20,000 toilets in four blocks of district Amritsar (Chogawan, Majitha, Ajnala and Harsha Chhina) with an investment of up to Rs. 30 Crores. 

The remaining 30,000 plus toilets would be provided by the Department of Water Supply & Sanitation in five blocks (Attari, Jandiala, Rayya, Tarsika and Verka). He said that the joint initiative would impact over 2.5 lac individuals. 

Earlier the foundation in collaboration with the Punjab Government has constructed over 17628 toilets to cover all households in 928 villages of Ludhiana district, directly benefitting more than 86000 beneficiaries. In addition 14 Government schools, identified by Punjab Education department which did not have a separate toilet for girl students have been provided a separate toilet for girls.         

Others prominent present on the occasion included Mhd. Ishfaq Director Sanitation Punjab, Paramjit Singh District Sanitation Officer, Amritsar, SK Sharma XEN Water Supply & Sanitation, Amritsar, Atul Bakshi Head Sanitation, Bharti Foundation, Dinesh Jain CFO, Bharti Foundation and Nitin Sharma Senior Manager Bharti Foundation.