India, Dec. 16 -- A Rs.1,000 crore initiative for clean hill cities under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) 2.0 will be rolled out in January, Srinivas K, secretary at union ministry of housing and urban Affairs (MoHUA), said on Tuesday.

He was speaking as part of a preparatory workshop for this scheme in the national capital attended by officials of 12 Himalayan and northeastern states and that of five hill cities from West Bengal.

Roopa Mishra, joint secretary at MoHUA, said states have been asked to develop their own templates under the mission, tailored to local geography, climate and capacity constraints.

"These templates must be scalable, implementable and replicable within their regions," she said.

Senior officials said the programme...