Under Swachh Bharat Mission, Punjab Government is targeting to construct 47,216 household toilets by March 2016. The directions to work towards meeting the target were issued by the State Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal while chairing the Mission’s high-powered committee meeting on Tuesday. Kaushal issued instructions to complete the field survey and application process under this scheme in next four weeks so that the target of constructing 47,216 household toilets can be completed on time.
Further, under this scheme, 3,251 community toilet seats and 7,673 public toilet seats will also be constructed. The high-powered committee has been formed under the Union Ministry of Urban Development’s Mission for management of Swachh Bharat Mission at State and urban local body’s level and also for finalisation and implementation of the State Sanitation Strategy for the State and respective City Sanitation plan.
During the meeting, local Government secretary informed that total Rs381.18 crores have already been allocated to the State under this scheme during this mission period till October 2, 2019, and Rs41.40 crores have already been released in the last financial year. He said that 1.96 lakh household toilets shall be constructed in the State for which 11,711 applications have been received from various districts.
On this, Chief Secretary instructed the Department to immediately run an effective mass awareness campaign to educate people about the scheme, eligibility conditions and application process of this scheme. The local Government department was asked to complete a detailed survey and identify the locations of these toilets across the State.
The Department was also asked to prepare a roadmap and action plan in next 10 days for the construction of these toilets and also for the maintenance of these toilets. It was discussed that the model followed by Chandigarh and Delhi must be studied and an option of outsourcing model such as Sulabh Shauchalaya may be explored for operations and maintenance of these toilets after the construction.