Target set to cover 100 per cent households under IHHL by year-end

BHUBANESWAR:   Considered to be one of the worst performing states in rural sanitation, Odisha is making a steady progress in construction of individual household latrines (IHHL) under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Households having toilets increased to 51 per cent by March-end from a mere 10.58 pc in October 2014. About 6.23 lakh toilets have been constructed during the current financial year. “Construction of more than 6.23 lakh individual household toilets has been completed during the current financial year. Odisha has now reached 51 pc of coverage level.

Field level actions have been expedited to raise this level to 56 pc by April 10,” said Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan. Union Cabinet Secretary Pradip Kumar Sinha reviewed the State’s performance under SBM over video conferencing on Monday. Panchayati Raj Secretary DK Singh said target has been set to cover 100 pc households by this year end. The rate of completion would be enhanced and more manpower would be engaged for uploading of geo tagged data and photographs of the toilets along with beneficiary details.

“Over 14,000 Swechhagrahis (volunteers) have been engaged at village level. Around one lakh para government workers are promoting safe sanitation practices and use of toilets,” Singh said. As of now, Deogarh is the only district of the State, which has been declared open defecation free (ODF). Jharsuguda district is on its way to achieve ODF status within a fortnight. Government has set its eyes on declaring four more districts as ODF by June-end.

The districts are Balasore, Gajapati, Sambalpur and Sonepur. The programme is being funded by both the Central and State Governments. The annual implementation plan for 2018-19 have been made with total outlay of `5681.44 crore out of which the Central share is `3408.86 crore while the State Government will provide `2271.94 crore. The beneficiary share in terms of labour will be around `62 lakh. The rural sanitation programme of the State was jointly reviewed by Chief Secretary AP Padhi and Union Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Parmeswaran Iyer at a high-level meeting here in February. The State Government has directed district collectors to focus on behavioural change of the people and sustainability of SBM campaign.