Meghalaya to be declared a totally open defecation free State as more than half of the villages in the State are yet to become open defecation free villages, even as the Centre has plans to make Meghalaya an open defecation free state under the ambitious Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
As per the statistics released under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, out of 6785 villages in Meghalaya only 2537 villages have achieved the distinction of becoming total open defecation free villages.
As per statistics, only 276 villages out of 1104 in East Garo Hills are now open defecation free.
Incidentally, the most advanced district of East Khasi Hills has also not shown any remarkable improvement with only 326 villages out of a total of 1044 becoming open defecation free.
In Jaintia Hills only 87 villages have achieved the feat, Surprisingly, Ri Bhoi district has performed exceedingly well with 400 villages out of a total of 616 being declared open defecation free villages.
In South Garo Hills, 189 villages have achieved the feat out of 766 villages whereas 1057 villages in West Garo hills are now open defecation free villages out of a total of 1620 villages.
Only 232 villages have been declared open defecation free out of 1117 villages in West Khasi Hills District.
Additional Chief Engineer, PHE, R.K. Pandey, said that the target for Meghalaya to become an open defection free state is December, 2017 and this year alone 4000 toilets have been constructed in Meghalaya.
The funding pattern for construction of toilets is Rs.10,800 from the Central Government and Rs.1200 from the State Government. The matter is also likely to be discussed during a meeting on Wednesday which is scheduled to be attended by Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Birender Singh.
