Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj Minister Bhupendra Singh Chowdhary on Monday said the government had decided to make the entire state open defecation free (ODF) by October 2, 2018.
So far, 51 per cent of the state's population in the countryside have got the facility of toilets and he added that a lot still needed to be done.
The Minister pointed out that the state has come first in making toilets as it has built 3.52 lakh toilets.
Earlier, he said that the media can play a pivotal role in making the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan a success.
He was addressing a workshop organised by Unicef and the Panchayati Raj department of the Uttar Pradesh government for media persons in the state capital.
Additional Chief Secretary (Panchayats Raj) Chanchal Kumar Tiwari urged the media to involve itself more in dissemination of information about the Swacch Bharat mission and its benefits.
--IANS
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