SHILLONG: To translate the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of a “clean and green” India, Meghalaya is gearing up to achieve the target of becoming an “Open Defecation Free State” by 2018.
However, even though the State has set this goal, toilet coverage in every household is yet to be achieved with more than a lakh households still left to be covered.
As per the baseline survey of 2012, the total number of individual households in the State is around 4,30,610. Out of this, the PHE department has managed to cover around 3,48,233 households till date which amounts to 84.6 per cent coverage.
In terms of the total number of villages, the State has provided 100 per cent toilet coverage in only 2582 out of the 6785 villages in the State. The State still has an uphill task of achieving the target it has set for itself. The good news is that Meghalaya is ranked 5th in the country in terms of implementing the objective of the “Swachh Bharat Mission” according to an official statement.
Official reports suggested that Ri-Bhoi is the only district in the State which has been declared as an “Open Defecation Free District”. The two districts which are nearly achieving the target are West Garo Hills and East Garo Hills.
PHE department Additional Chief Engineer in charge of Swachh Bharat Mission, RK Pandey recently informed that the State Government has set a target up to March 2018 to provide toilets to all households to ensure that the Meghalaya becomes “Open Defecation Free State” by March 2018.
According to Pandey, even though the “Total Sanitation Campaign” started in 2004, Meghalaya got its first sanction for the implementation of the project only in 2006 adding that the first two districts to implement the Total Sanitation Campaign in Meghalaya were East Khasi Hills and West Garo Hills.
The PHE Additional Chief Engineer said that as per the baseline survey, the total number of villages in Meghalaya is 6785 villages out of which, 2582 villages have been declared complete “Open Defecation Free”.
When asked why the number of villages covered is less especially when more than 84 % of the total households have already been covered, he said that the delay is due to the fact that the verification process for declaration of the “open defecation free village” takes a long time.
“Out of the 2582 villages which have been totally covered, another 800 plus are already “open defecation free “. But we could not make the declaration since the verification process takes time,” Pandey said.
Informing that Ri-Bhoi is the only district so far in the State which has been declared “Open Defecation Free District”, the PHE Chief Engineer said they have completed 90 per cent of the work in West Garo Hills and East Garo Hills.
“We are expecting to complete our work in these two districts (West and East Garo Hills) by March next year. In East Khasi Hills, almost 10,000 households are still to be covered,” Pandey said.
When asked about the complaints from various quarters that toilets are being constructed without the provision of water supply, he said that the department is ensuring that water supply is provided in the toilets which are constructed through simultaneous water supply and sanitation programme.
