Charminar, Somnath Temple among 10 sites named by Centre in second phase of 'Swachh Bharat' mission

The central government, in a bid to improve cleanliness and basic amenities at select heritage and spiritual sites of the country, has embarked upon a special clean-up drive. [caption id=“attachment_3937551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Charminar. PTI[/caption] Tourist attractions and pilgrimage points like Hyderabad’s Charminar, Gujarat’s Somnath temple, as also the Yamunotri and Gangotri temples, will be cleaned under the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission’s Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) initiative. According to a  press release issued by the government, the places selected for a facelift will see improved sewage infrastructure, installation of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), improved sanitation facilities, water vending machines (Water ATMs), solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) set-ups, structure restoration, roads maintenance, lighting arrangements, beautification of parks, better transport facilities in approach and access areas, and at the main sites. The places that have been included in the second phase are as follows: 1. Gangotri Temple, Uttarakhand 2. Yamunotri Temple, Uttarakhand 3. Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh 4. Charminar, Hyderabad, Telangana 5. Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assisi, Goa 6. Kaladi, Kerala 7. Gomateshwar, Shravanbelgola, Karnataka 8. Baijnath Dham, Devghar, Jharkhand 9. Gaya Tirth, Bihar 10. Somnath Temple, Gujarat This will be the second phase of the SIP initiative, with the first phase having been announced in June 2016. These places will join the 10 earlier spots where special clean-up work was already being implementated since 2016. The places included in the first phase were Ajmer Sharif dargah in Rajasthan, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (CST) railway station, Golden Temple in Amritsar, Kamakhya temple in Assam, Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi, Meenakshi temple in Madurai, the Vaishno Devi temple in Katra, Jagannath temple in Puri, Agra’s Taj Mahal and the Tirupati Temple in Tirumala. The SIP programme is initiated by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation with joint cooperation by the urban development and culture and tourism ministries, while several public sector and private companies also joined hands for the project. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had started the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ on 2 October, 2014, with an aim to clean up streets, roads and infrastructure in India’s cities, smaller towns, and rural areas.