As many as 34,000 toilets lying defunct
SHILLONG: Even though the State Government has boasted of making 73 per cent of the households in the State open defecation free, as many as 34000 toilets constructed in the past have become defunct and would cost the State an additional Rs 41 crore to get them repaired.
A senior government official said that Meghalaya Governor, V. Shanmuganathan recently chaired a meeting with bankers, corporate houses, industries, senior state government officials including those from the PHE department at the Raj Bhavan to ensure that the State achieves “cent per cent open defecation free status”.
However, the PHE officials informed the gathering that Rs 41 crore would be required to replace the 34,000 defunct toilets which are expected to be instrumental in making the fully open defecation free.
It may be mentioned that on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, State Nodal Officer for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Meghalaya, RK Pandey had said that the PHE department, which is the nodal department for the programme in the State has already covered 73 per cent households under the ambitious programme.
According to officials, the toilets were constructed years ago with an amount of Rs 3000 sanctioned for each of them. However, under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Rs 12000 is being provided per household for the construction of toilets thus escalating the budget.
“The issue of reconstruction of defunct toilets was taken up with the bankers and corporate houses during the meeting and their help was sought in the matter,” the official said.
According to the official, the bankers and corporate houses wanted the location of these villages before obtaining clearance for financial assistance from their respective head offices. As a follow up action another meeting will be held in this regard on October 5.
