New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) 'Swachhata' does not add to costs but boosts productivity and conserves resources, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

During his visit to the Finance Ministry offices in North Block to oversee preparations for the 'Swachhata Special Campaign 3.0', he asked the senior officers to aim for reducing pendency in government offices with a saturation approach.

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"Swachhata, viz cleanliness, does not add to costs but, in fact, boosts productivity and conserves resources," said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel.

He said, close to 90 lakh square feet of prime office space has been cleared during the last two swachhata campaigns and put into productive usage.

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Besides, the government generated a revenue of Rs 370.83 crore from the disposal of scrap, 64.92 lakh files were reviewed, 4.56 lakh public grievances were redressed and 8,998 MPs' references replied, a statement issued by the personnel ministry said.

Swachhata campaign also spurred e-office work culture in the government and now more than 90 per cent of file work has been made online, it said.

The Union government has announced the special campaign 3.0 from October 2, 2023, coinciding with the birth anniversary of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, till October 31, 2023. The campaign is a sequel to the special campaigns conducted in the last two years.

The special campaign 3.0 will focus on field/outstation offices responsible for service delivery or having a public interface, in addition to the ministries/departments and their attached/subordinate offices, the statement said.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances is the nodal department for the implementation of the special campaign 3.0.

Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi transformed the swachhata campaign into a "jan andolan".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)