While welcoming the move of the new government to provide toilet to every house, founder of Sulabh International Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak said that by giving such importance to the issue of toilet, government will also succeed in tackling women-related crimes and sexual assaults which they face for want of toilets in rural areas.
lack of toilet was the reason behind recent incident in Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, he pointed out.
The goal set by the previous UPA government was to achieve 100 per cent access to sanitation for all rural households in the country by 2022 under the programme called Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA). Although the Central Government is providing resources within its means, the task of total sanitation cannot be achieved without the support of all,” the Finance Minister said.
“This is the first time when government has shown its intention to solve the open defecation in the country,” Dr Pathak said in a statement and hoped that the country will be able to meet the goal of achieving 100 per cent sanitation by 2019.
Jaitley said every household is intended to be covered by total sanitation by the year 2019, the 150th year of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi through Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan.
In the 12th Plan an outlay of Rs 34,377 crores has been provided for rural sanitation as compared to Rs 6540 crores in the 11th Plan, which is a significantly higher allocation (425 per cent higher than the 11th Plan).