Itanagar, Jul 25: Chief Minister Pema Khandu today said Arunachal Pradesh was ranked fourth in the cleanliness ranking among the states. "Our government had allocated an amount of Rs 30 crore for carrying forward the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA)," Khandu said and exuded confidence that the state's ranking would improve more in the days to come.

The chief minister said due to coordinated efforts among all the stakeholders, Arunachal Pradesh could achieve the status of Open Defecation Free (ODF) well in advance of the deadline of December 31, 2018.

Khandu today formally launched the Swachh Sarvekshan Grameen (SSG-2018), a national survey launched by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in the state.

The objective of the rural survey is to undertake ranking of states and districts on basis of their performance attained on key quantitative and qualitative Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G) parameters.

The criteria of SSG-2018 include a survey of public places, citizens perspective of cleanliness, their recommendations and data from SBM-G. The process of the survey would begin on August 1 next and would culminate on August 31, state PHE & WS Commissioner Marnya Ete said.