SHILLONG: More than 17000 toilets have been constructed under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in the state this year.
Informing this here on Tuesday, State Nodal Officer for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, RK Pandey said that the target is to construct 52000 toilets in rural areas of Meghalaya under the campaign this year.
Reacting to a query, Pandey said that the over 17000 toilets were constructed during the “non working period”. He added that the remaining toilets would be constructed at a rapid pace since this is the “working season”.
It may be mentioned that Meghalaya targets to construct toilets for 4 .11 lakh households under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and so far more than 73 per cent of the household have been covered.
The much-hyped Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project was launched last year and it is one of India’s most ambitious civic programmes with an aim to make a country, which accounts for 60% of the world’s open defecation, clean.
Under the programme, PHE the department is focusing on several sectors besides creating awareness among people for changing their attitude, eradicating water borne diseases and providing training to the masses on cleanliness and hygiene.
When asked about the 34000 toilets constructed in the past which have become defunct and would cost the State an additional Rs 41 crore to get them repaired, Pandey said that these are old toilets which were constructed under other schemes such as Total Sanitation Scheme and Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan and the incentive money was quite less under those schemes.
