EKH to get status by 2017

SHILLONG: East Khasi Hills, the most developed district of Meghalaya, will be declared an open defecation free district (ODF) by the year-end.
Informing this to The Shillong Times, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner, PS Dkhar said of the eight blocks, five are almost 100 per cent ODF status whereas three blocks such as Mawryngkneng, Mawphlang and Shella have 85 per cent ODF status at present.
However, the district administration is optimistic that the three blocks will achieve the target soon.
“In fact, we will see that we declare the district as ODF by November,” Dkhar said.
The basis for declaring a district as 100 percent ODF is that every household in all the blocks should have toilets.
Asked about Shillong, he said the urban area is not at all a problem as almost every household in the urban agglomeration has toilets.
The deputy commissioner further said the government would now have to focus on creating public utilities in commercial areas of the district, including weekly markets in rural areas.
Meghalaya is gearing up to achieve the target of becoming an “Open Defecation Free State” by 2018 and a huge number of toilets in the rural areas of the state have been constructed under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Currently, only Haryana, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have been declared ODF under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.