Udaipur: In its contribution to make this Rajasthan city “Smart”, Hindustan Zinc Ltd. has decided to treat all household sewage here, scaling up the present treatment capacity for 30 percent of such effluents.

“In association with the Government of Rajasthan, Hindustan Zinc constructed the first public-private sewage treatment plant in Udaipur with a capacity to treat 20 million litres of sewage daily — which treats 30 percent of the city’s domestic sewage.

Udaipur is among the 100 selected for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Smart Cities” project.

“Taking forward this initiative of sewage treatment plant that has brought significant cleanliness in the lakes, Hindustan Zinc is looking forward to scale up its project to treat 100 percent of Udaipur’s domestic sewage,” the company said in a statement.

“The company has invested close to Rs.170 crore on this project.”

Hindustan Zinc is also constructing 40,000 household toilets in rural Rajasthan and separate such facilities for boys and girls in 623 government schools. Recently, it signed an agreement with the state government and adopted 3,055 centres for child-care.

“So far 11,425 household toilets have been completed. It includes 2,700 in Udaipur, 6,870 in Bhilwara, 1,570 in Chittorgarh and 285 in Rajsamand districts of Rajasthan. Toilets have also been constructed in 170 rural government schools,” said spokesperson Pavan Kaushik.

According to recent studies, only 21 percent of India’s rural population uses improved sanitation facilities, compares with seven percent for ountries like Bangladesh and Brazil and just four percent in China.