According to C R Patil, 60 crore people have ceased using public restrooms as a result of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil stated on Tuesday that since the government constructed over 11 crore toilets nationwide as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), no child in India dies from diarrheal illness today.

“World Health Organization’s report for the first five years shows that every year 60,000–70,000 children who used to go out for defecation died due to diarrhea,” Patil said at a press conference on the eve of Swachh Bharat Divas. The whole thing has changed in the present. No child passes away from diarrhea as a result of open defecation. The cleanliness drive has resulted in the provision of an excellent service. On October 2, which is also Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, we celebrate Swachh Bharat Divas.

He claimed that the government’s commitment to the cleanliness program was demonstrated by the more than Rs 32,000 crore it allotted for these initiatives in the first five years. According to Patil, the use of toilets has prevented 60 crore people from going outside to urinate.
The government introduced the open defecation-free (ODF)-plus initiative in the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission, and more than 3.5 lakh villages declared themselves to be ODF-plus, he said.

Many in the opposition questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks regarding toilets from the Red Fort during his Independence Day speech, according to Patil.

Regarding the October 2 event, Patil stated that PM Modi will speak at an event after taking part in a cleaning campaign in the nation’s capital.

According to a WHO report published in July 2018, between 2014 and October 2019, the Center’s Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin is expected to prevent 3,00,000 deaths due to diarrhea and protein-energy malnutrition.
“Unsafe sanitation caused an estimated 199 million cases of diarrhoea annually before the start of the SBM in 2014. According to the statement, these have been progressively declining and will nearly completely disappear by October 2019 when safe sanitation facilities are used by everyone.