In a bid to improve household sanitation in rural Punjab, Bharti Foundation on Monday said it will invest up to Rs 100 crore in constructing toilets in Ludhiana over the next three years.

The Foundation, which is the development arm of Bharti Enterprises said the programme is inspired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to corporates in his Independence Day speech to join the cause of rural sanitation.

Bharti Enterprises is led by Sunil Mittal who hails from Ludhiana.

As part of this programme, the Foundation will invest up to Rs 100 crore in constructing toilets while reaching out to every rural household lacking such facilities in the district, over the next three years.

In addition to rural household sanitation, the ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’ will also invest in improving sanitation facilities in government schools in rural Ludhiana by building new toilets for girls, where no such facilities exist.

Software major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has also pledged Rs 100 crore towards financing hygienic sanitation facilities for girl students across 10,000 schools.

“It is our commitment that no single household or school in rural Ludhiana will be without a toilet by the end of this tenure,” Bharti Foundation Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said in a statement.

These initiatives will be supported by the two group companies — Bharti Airtel and Bharti Infratel.

“Hailing from Ludhiana, we are extremely delighted to be contributing towards such an important cause having direct implication on the quality of life in rural areas of the district. I will be personally involved in monitoring the progress of the Programme,” Bharti Foundation Co-Chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal said.

Emphasising on the ‘dignity of women’, the Prime Minister had asked parliamentarians and corporate sector to help build separate toilets for girls in schools across the country by next year.

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