Highlights
- More than 4 crore toilets have been built since 2014
- Centre aims to make another 150 districts ODF by end of this year
- All Union Territories are expected to go ODF by March 2018
New Delhi: For 2017, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation set an ambitious target of turning 300 districts Open Defecation Free (ODF) in the next 5 months. On July 21, Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation took to twitter and announced that half of Swachh Bharat Missiom (Mission)- Gramin’s (SBM-G) target for this year has been achieved with 150 districts going ODF.
देश के 150 जिले खुले में शौच से मुक्त घोषित.#SwachhBharatMission #OpenDefecationFree pic.twitter.com/JFvDVqve99
— Narendra Singh Tomar (@nstomar) July 21, 2017
The sanitation coverage, which was 41.80 per cent on October 2, 2014, has increased to 65.07 per cent as on July 17, 2017, said Chandappa Jigjinagi, Minister of State for Drinking Water & Sanitation while replying to a question in Lok Sabha. He further said that every year the government has crossed the original target of toilet construction and performed beyond expectations.
He said that a target of 50 lakh individual latrines was set for the year 2014-15. With a 117 per cent success rate, over 58 lakh (58,54,987) latrines were built. In 2015-16, 127.41 lakh toilets were constructed against the expected outcome of 120 lakh. Likewise, the government recorded a success rate of 146 per cent as 219.24 lakh latrines were built against the expected target of 150 lakhs in 2016-17. For the year 2017-18, as against the expected outcome of 1.7 crore individual latrines, over 45 lakh (45,19,942) latrines or about 27 per cent, have been constructed as of July 2017.
As per the latest report of SBM-G, a total of 2,09,099 villages, 95,521 gram panchayats, 1,411 blocks have eliminated the practice of open defecation.
With rural Uttarakhand and rural Haryana achieving 100% toilet coverage on June 22, 5 states (Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Haryana) have already been declared ODF. Param Iyer, Secretary Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had even called June 22 a ‘big day’ for SBM-G, “Big day for @swachhbharat . Two states, Uttarakhand and Haryana are ODF. @nstomar @PMOIndia.”
Big day for @swachhbharat . Two states, Uttarakhand and Haryana are ODF. @nstomar @PMOIndia
— Param Iyer (@paramiyer_) June 22, 2017
As for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), Urban Development Secretary, Durga Shanker Mishra had said in a review meeting that 5 states – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Telangana are likely to go ODF by end of 2017. In another review meeting chaired by former Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, all seven Union Territories of India have pledged to become ODF by March 2018.
The Clean India Mission, which is divided into two categories- Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), aims to make the country completely open defecation free by October 2 2019, on the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Also Read: Ministry Of Urban Development Launches ‘Toilet Karenge Search, Toilets Rakhenge Swachh’ Campaign
With Inputs from IANS
