Central Government earns ₹970 crore through scrap disposal under Swachhata Abhiyan

The Central Government has earned ₹970.33 crore through the disposal of scrap during a month-long Swachhata Abhiyan conducted from October 2 to October 31. According to a report by India Today, this was the sixth edition of the annual campaign, aimed at regularising cleaning in government offices and reducing pending work.

The campaign was inspired by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and carried out under the guidance of Union Minister of State for Personnel, Jitendra Singh. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances acted as the nodal department in the entire process. Ministries, departments, field formations, and public service delivery institutions across the country participated in this campaign.

According to the integrated data provided by ministries and departments on the Special Campaign 6 portal, a total of 19,88,826 cleanliness sites were covered. This figure is approximately 71 per cent higher than the 11,59,783 sites covered during last year's campaign. The Ministry of Personnel stated that the disposal of scrap, including electronic waste, generated a revenue of ₹970.33 crore, which is nearly 16 per cent higher compared to Special Campaign 5.0. Out of this, approximately ₹50 crore was earned from electronic waste alone.

Through this campaign, 277.82 lakh square feet of office space was vacated for productive use, showing an increase of 19 per cent over the previous campaign. In this area, the Ministry of Coal vacated the most space, exceeding 1.48 crore square feet. This was followed by the Ministry of Heavy Industries with over 50.19 lakh square feet and the Department of Defence Production with 19.34 lakh square feet.

In efforts to improve administrative efficiency and move towards paperless governance, government departments disposed of 9,99,168 public grievances and addressed 40,878 appeals related to such grievances. The Railway Board disposed of the highest number of public grievances, exceeding 2.69 lakh. This was followed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment with 2.42 lakh, the Department of Posts with 1.50 lakh, and the Department of Consumer Affairs with 1.01 lakh grievances resolved.

Regarding the disposal of files, 26,79,875 physical files were reviewed, of which 15,76,828 files were weeded out. In the digital category, 9,58,864 electronic files were reviewed and 7,01,723 files were closed. Additionally, ministries noted that 983 rules and processes were simplified, with the Department of Defence Affairs making the highest number of reforms.

The Railway Board led in revenue generated through scrap disposal, earning ₹618.06 crore. This was followed by the Department of Defence Affairs with ₹88.96 crore, the Ministry of Coal with ₹61.41 crore, and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with ₹34.81 crore.

In terms of the number of cleanliness drives, the Department of School Education and Literacy made the most progress, with over 7.01 lakh campaigns conducted in schools. The Ministry of Women and Child Development organised programmes in 6.52 lakh Anganwadi centres and other institutions. According to an official statement, the highest achievements across key parameters since the start of this annual exercise in 2021 have been recorded this time.