New Delhi: ‘Since childhood I was taught– if you want to relieve yourself go in the open either early in the morning or late at night. But, these things cannot be decided like this. I had to suffer a lot in the absence of a toilet at home many a times I had to hold my bladder for long-long hours. But, not anymore, I can use the toilet at any given time,’ says a student from Sikar district of Rajasthan which has recently built a toilet at home in a bid to make its district open defecation free (ODF).
This was a story of every women in Sikar district, but, now the fate of the district has changed as it has successfully eliminated open defecation. The district recently declared its 343 Gram Panchayats, 9 Panchayat Samitis open defecation free. According to the baseline survey of 2012, approximately 2 lakh houses were deprived of a basic facility like a toilet at home. And now the district has made more than 2 lakh 59 thousands toilets and attained the open defecation free status. In Rajasthan, Sikar is the 12th ODF district.
This is the first step towards fulfilling the dream of state’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan dream, now, taking a step forward, we will try and make Sikar 100% waste-free, says the Swachh Zilla officer.
Speaking about Rajasthan’s overall Swachh performance, the state’s rural areas have made impressive progress in three years. From mere 30.55% sanitation coverage in 2014 to 90% now, the rural areas are on its way to fulfill the dream of Open Defecation Free soon. The state’s overall target to attain the mammoth task of getting ODF status is by end of December 2017.
