New Delhi:The country was declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) on October 2, 2019, the Government informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday. This information was shared by MoS, Ministry of Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply.
"Government had launched Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) [SBM(G)] on 2nd October, 2014 with the goal to make the rural areas of the country Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2nd October, 2019, by providing access to toilets to all the rural households," stated the MoS.
He further stated that more than 10 crore Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) were constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) programme which was launched on October 2, 2014, and all the villages had declared themselves ODF by October 2, 2019. All the districts had also declared themselves ODF and issued ODF certificates, the MoS said.
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As per the data shared by the Minister, a total of 64,062.74 crore was allocated under the SBM mission and a total of 58,028.4 has been spent from 2017 to 2022. "However, there may be some gaps because of emerging new households which is a continuous process and some toilets going dysfunctional due to natural disasters or other reasons," stated the MoS.
"To address this, provision for toilets construction for new households has been continued in PhaseII of SBM (G). States/UTs are also being regularly emphasised that dysfunctional toilets are made functional for continuous usage of toilets through Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and community mobilization. Further, as sanitation primarily is a behavioral issue, emphasis is given continuously on IEC / IPC (Inter Personal Communication) activities", he added.
