Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar has said that government will carry out a drive to clean ten iconic places in the country, including Taj Mahal, Vaishno Devi temple and Ajmer Sharif, as part of a pilot project under the Swachh Bharat mission. <br/><br/>Inaugurating a two-day National Workshop in New Delhi on Special Cleanliness drive today, Mr Tomar said, his ministry is in the process of selecting 100 iconic places for cleaning under the mission and most will be either tourist or religious spots.<br/><br/>The other places which have been selected are Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, Golden Temple in Punjab, Jagannath temple in Odisha, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Maharashtra, Manikarnika Ghat in Uttar Pradesh, Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu and Kamakhya Temple in Assam.<br/><br/>Mr Tomar said, once the pilot project is completed, the government will carry out a similar cleanliness drive at the remaining 90 places.<br/><br/>Sharing the details of the project, Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said the ministry is taking help of experts from World Bank to make this project successful. <br/><br/>He said, the Ministry is evaluating various models and practices which have been followed in various countries for cleaning and sanitising and trying to find out out which are relevant can be adapted here. The Secretary also said the ministry has approached various corporate groups for financing the drive at these iconic places.

Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar has said that government will carry out a drive to clean ten iconic places in the country, including Taj Mahal, Vaishno Devi temple and Ajmer Sharif, as part of a pilot project under the Swachh Bharat mission. <br/><br/>Inaugurating a two-day National Workshop in New Delhi on Special Cleanliness drive today, Mr Tomar said, his ministry is in the process of selecting 100 iconic places for cleaning under the mission and most will be either tourist or religious spots.<br/><br/>The other places which have been selected are Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, Golden Temple in Punjab, Jagannath temple in Odisha, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Maharashtra, Manikarnika Ghat in Uttar Pradesh, Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu and Kamakhya Temple in Assam.<br/><br/>Mr Tomar said, once the pilot project is completed, the government will carry out a similar cleanliness drive at the remaining 90 places.<br/><br/>Sharing the details of the project, Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said the ministry is taking help of experts from World Bank to make this project successful. <br/><br/>He said, the Ministry is evaluating various models and practices which have been followed in various countries for cleaning and sanitising and trying to find out out which are relevant can be adapted here. The Secretary also said the ministry has approached various corporate groups for financing the drive at these iconic places.