Development Commissioner R Balkrishnan on Thursday directed all district Collectors to complete Individual Household latrine (IHHl) targets for 2016-17 in their districts while the State’s total target is set at 26 lakh.
Through a videoconferencing held at the State Secretariat, Balakrishnan advised the Collectors to constitute special teams and carry forward the work on a mission mode. Rural Development Secretary Madhusudan Padhi outlined the issues for discussion and clarified the points relating to ground level implementation of these projects under Swachh Bharat Mission.
The Collectors were told that funds for 2016-17 would be released soon. Around Rs 598 crore would be released to all districts as per the targets.
Padhi informed the Collectors that the Government is actively considering a system for 3rd party evaluation of the open defecation free (ODF) villages, changes in habits of the people and use of toilets by villagers.
It was revealed that a total number of 13, 29,932 toilets had been constructed during 2015-16 in all the districts against the target of 12 lakh, marking an achievement of around 111 per cent.
While 20 districts, Angul, Baleswar, Bargarh, Bhadrak, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Khordha, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapurr and Sundargarh achieved more than 100 per cent, the rest 10 districts constructed around 90 per cent of targeted numbers of toilets during the year.
It has been targeted that 26 lakh toilets would be constructed during the current year with a Central-State fund share of 60:40.