Bhubaneswar: Odisha set to cover 100% households under Swachh Bharat Mission by December 2018, the Odisha government told the Centre on Monday.
The cabinet secretary to government of India, Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Monday reviewed the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission programme in the state through video conferencing from Delhi.
Appraising the present situation, the Odisha development commissioner R Balakrishnan said that by the end of March 2018 household having toilet has reached 51% from a mere 10.58% in October 2014. Field level actions have been expedited to raise this level to 56% by April 10, 2018, he added. The development commissioner said, ” More than 6.23 lakh individual household toilets have been completed during the current financial year”.
Principal Secretary, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh and Mission Director Roopa Mishra participated in the conference from the state government side.
The state panchyati raj and drinking water principal secretary Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh said that target has been to cover 100% households by end of December, 2018. 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, he added. According to him visible progress in construction of household toilets in rural area under Swachh Bhrat Mission has been made by the state government.
Available data show, presently over 14000 Swechhagrahis have been engaged at village level. Along with them around 1 lakh para government workers are working in the field for promoting safe sanitation practices and use of toilets. As of now, Deogarh has been declared as open defecation free (ODF) district. Jharsuguda district is on its march of achieving ODF recognition within a fortnight. Government has set it eye on declaring 4 more districts ODF by 1st quarter of the financial year 2018-19. These districts are Balasore, Gajpati, Sambalpur and Sonepur. The programme is being funded by both the Central and state government. Annual implementation plan for 2018-19 have been made with total outlay of Rs.5681.44 cr out of which Centre will provide Rs.3408.86 cr and Odisha government will provide Rs.2271.94 cr. The beneficiary share in terms of labour will be around Rs. 62 lakhs.
