The Sanitation coverage in the country has increased by 14 per cent to 52 per cent since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Campaign in October 2014.<br/><br/>Talking exclusively to AIR, Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation Parameswaran Iyer said, of the 677 districts of the country only 16 have been declared open defecation free. <br/><br/>He said, the government has undertaken 160 districts under the first phase where intensive sanitation drive was needed to make them open defecation free. <br/><br/>He said, the Centre is assisting the States in providing technical and financial assistance to scale up the efforts for achieving the goal. Mr Iyer said, his Ministry will undertake 200 to 250 other districts later this year. <br/><br/>( S/B Parameswaran Iyer)<br/>Mr Iyer also told AIR that the government has identified ten iconic heritage places where intensive clean up drive will be launched under Swachh Bharat mission. These places are Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir, Chhatrapati Shivahi Terminus in Maharashtra, Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh, Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, Golden Temple in Punjab, Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi, Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan, Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu, Kamakhya Temple in Assam and Jagannath Puri in Odisha. He said, the government has sought technical assistance from the World Bank to scale up the cleanliness efforts at these places.