In a survey conducted in Umaria, Sheopur and Guna districts of the state, 81 per cent schools lack toilet facilities. Besides, even if the toilets exist, they lack facilities like water supply to make it usable.
This fact was disclosed by Anil Gupta of Mahatma Gandhi Sewa Mandal in an interaction with the media in State capital on Tuesday.
He further informed that in the sample survey, it was found that contrary to the claims of the government functional toilets existed only in a miniscule number of homes.
"A sample of 5375 households was selected based on the data provided by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation on its website. We were shocked to find that out of all these households toilet was available only in 1701 households and even in this, toilets were being used only in 126 households," he said.
Notably, India is losing nearly Rs 30,000 crore annually which is equal to 6.4 per cent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) due to lack of proper sanitation facilities in the country.
Besides, 62.6 crore Indians defecate in open which is highest in the world and is greater than the sum people defecating in open in next 18 countries after India, informed Mathew luckose, Regional Manager of WaterAid, and a civil society body supporting the South Asia regional campaign on right to sanitation.
Mathew also said that in India, the expenditure on sanitation has been constantly being reduced by the government in proportion to the GDP.
"In the year 2008, the government spent 0.5 per cent of GDP on sanitation, in 2009 it became 0.45 per cent of GDP and in 2011, the sanitation expenditure is 0.2 per cent of the GDP," he emphasized.
"The campaign is demanding that the expenditure on sanitation should be raised to 1 per cent of the GDP. This is an important issue keeping in view the huge loss suffered by the country owing to lack of sanitation facilities.
The country is facing a sanitation crisis. The country is home to 54 per cent of people without access to sanitation facilities in the world. This needs to be addressed on a war footing," he said.
The sanitation campaign, which is supported by many civil society organisation in the country is demanding that right to sanitation should be given a legal status by being declared as a fundamental right.