Highlights
- Construction of individual toilets in rural Bihar started in June 2016
- The toilet coverage in Bihar has risen to 40.83% from 22.81% in 2014
- Rural Bihar to become ODF by October 2 2019
Patna: Bihar government has set a target to make the state open defecation free (ODF) by October 2, 2019, Rural Development Minister Shravan Kumar announced in the Assembly.
“Under state sponsored Lohia Swachhta scheme, the rural development department has started the work of construction of individual toilets since June 1, 2016. The government has set a target to make the state open-defecation free by October 2, 2019,” Minister Kumar said.
Also Read: Woman In Bihar Collects Money Through Begging To Construct A Toilet
He was replying to the debate on his department’s budgetary allocation of Rs 15471.04 crore for 2018-19 which was subsequently passed amid walk out by the opposition members at the end of the day’s proceedings.
Under Lohia Swachhta scheme, the state government provides Rs 12,000 as an incentive directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries for construction and use of individual toilets, the minister said.
The toilet coverage in the state has gone up to 40.83 per cent from 22.81 per cent on October 2, 2014, he said.
On construction of house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), minister Kumar said 65.68 lakh families were found in the survey based on socio economic and caste census (SECC 2011) but only 36.76 lakh people were found eligible to get benefits under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural).
Minister Kumar said he has asked all district magistrates to include those who have been left out of the SECC survey for availing the scheme after getting it ratified by gram panchayats.
