NEW DELHI: Meghalaya, which is vying for a Smart City slot, is lagging behind in open defecation free (ODF) status even during the three years of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), says a review report.
During the mid-session review here, Urban Development Secretary D.S Mishra asked the officials concerned to pursue with states and union territories which are performing poorly in eradicating open defecation.
The states are Goa, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir and Northeastern states, including Meghalaya, besides the union territories.
Sikkim is the only state in the North East that has achieved 100 percent construction of toilets.
“Such states and union territories should speed up construction of toilets which are necessary for becoming ODF,” Mishra said.
Swachh Bharat Mission will complete three years on Gandhi Jayanti this year.
All the 1,137 statutory cities and towns in six states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Kerala and Telangana are set to be declared ODF on October 2.
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Chandigarh have already declared all the 281 cities and towns ODF. “Altogether 1,418 cities and towns would become ODF by this October,” the secretary said.
These nine states account for 39 percent of the total 4,041 mission cities. “These states have done this important task two years ahead of the mission deadline of October 2, 2019,” Mishra added.
In Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Sikkim, the toilets constructed so far and under construction comes to 100 percent of the mission target, followed by Uttarakhand at 92 percent, Maharashtra at 91 percent, Chhattisgarh 89 percent, Tamil Nadu 85 percent, Telangana 81 percent, Kerala 77 percent, Karnataka 74 percent, Punjab 68 percent, Andaman & Nicobar Islands 67 percent, Bihar 63 percent, Rajasthan 61 percent, Uttar Pradesh 49 percent and Haryana 46 percent, the secretary added.