The city Corporation has begun its activities to make the city open-defecation free as part of the implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) programmes.
A total of 7,500 households without toilets have been identified across the city and its outskirts.
The project is part of the efforts towards making the State open-defecation free by March end.
Rs.8 crore allotted
“An amount of Rs.8 crore has been set aside by the Corporation from its plan fund for this purpose. We will also get Central funds of around Rs.3.6 crore through the Suchitwa Mission. Some funds are also expected to come in through a private company as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility activities. With toilets in these 7,500 households, the city will become 100 per cent open-defecation free, which is no mean achievement,” says K. Sreekumar, Chairperson of the Corporation’s Standing Committee on Health.
The Corporation workers had over the past few months fanned across the city to collect data on households without toilets.
According to Corporation sources, much of these 7,500 households are concentrated in the coastal regions and rest of them in slums located within the city.
There are toilets in the slums in which the Corporation has constructed housing blocks as part of the Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) and the Rajiv Awaaz Yojayana (RAY) projects.
In the coastal areas, where houses are packed together, one of the biggest challenges will be to find enough area for each household to construct a toilet.
Rs.20,000 each
As per the scheme, each toilet will cost around Rs.20,000. The Corporation and the Central funds together will come to around Rs.15,000. The beneficiary will have to bear the rest of the cost of construction. The money will be released to the beneficiary in three instalments.
In coastal areas, a challenge will be to find area in each household to construct a toilet.
