Earnings From Sale Of Scrap Under 'Swachhata' Drive At Govt Offices Rise To Rs 2,666 Cr

(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) The total revenue earned from the disposal of scrap from Central government offices under the 'Swachhata (cleanliness)' campaign from 2021-2025 has now gone up to Rs 2,666 crore, according to the monthly report released by the Centre's Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances on Friday.

The report states that between December 2024 and February this year, an amount of Rs 301.98 crore was raised, with as many as 1.05 lakh files being weeded out in the cleanliness campaign from various offices nationwide during February.

The 19th edition of the monthly 'Secretariat Reforms' report for February 2025 provides an analysis of the ongoing initiatives aimed at transforming governance and administration through 'swachhata' and reducing pendency to minimum levels.

The reforms include e-office implementation and an increased efficiency in decision-making.

The report states that cleanliness drives were conducted successfully at 5,825 sites nationwide. Approximately 3.47 lakh sq. ft of office space has been freed, with top contributors being the Ministry of Coal (1,41,721 sq. ft) and Ministry of Railways (51,928 sq. ft).

Also, Rs 156.41 crore in revenue was generated from scrap disposal, with significant contributions from Ministries such as Railways, Heavy Industries, and Coal.

Effective record management saw 1,74,565 physical files reviewed, with 1,05,818 files weeded out, alongside reviewing 67,457 e-Files and closing 38,451 of them.

Disposal of 4,80,422 public grievances was done during this period (91.21 per cent disposed), along with the disposal of 762 MP references and 291 state government references.

Ministries and departments implemented innovative citizen-centric practices, enhancing transparency and public accessibility.

The action taken in this regard includes the RTI & Public Grievances Office at Electronics Niketan, Ministry of Electronics and Information, Technology, Infrastructure enhancements at BEL Brij Vihar Colony, Ghaziabad, Department of Defence.

Besides improved facilities were provided at the Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Finance and rooftop revamp for secure storage was introduced at Aayakar Bhawan, Kolkata, by the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

There has also been an increase in efficiency in decision making and e-Office implementation and analytics, the report states.

This is reflected in the adoption of delayering initiatives which has significantly reduced the average distinct transaction levels for active files from 7.19 in 2021 to 4.24 as of February 2025.

As many as 92.70 per cent of the files created in February 2025 were e-Files, improving from 92.56 per cent in January 2025. Besides, 94.55 per cent of receipts processed were e-Receipts, with 37 Ministries achieving 100 per cent e-Files adoption.

There was also a notable reduction in inter-ministerial file movements to 2,959 files, compared to 3,238 in January 2025, indicating streamlined administrative processes.

“These initiatives underscore the Government of India's ongoing commitment to digitally-enabled, transparent, efficient, and citizen-focussed governance,” the report added.

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