In an embarrassment for the Gujarat government, the Comptroller and Auditor General has observed that the State’s sanitation coverage is only 46 per cent.
Picking several holes in the government’s Total Sanitation Campaign, launched in 1999, the CAG found that Gujarat projected “inflated” figures of individual household latrines, based on the release of funds, instead of actual construction of toilets.
“The latest baseline surveys (October 2013) showed that the actual sanitation coverage in the State was only 46 per cent,” noted the CAG report of local bodies for the year ended March 2013, tabled in the State Assembly on Tuesday.
In Dang and Panchmahal districts, with a large Adivasi population, “the sanitation coverage was low and ranged between 13 and 24 per cent respectively.”
In another major deficiency, the auditor pointed out that over 5,000 Anganwadi centres in Gujarat lacked toilet facilities. In the case of school toilets, the State fell short of 40,439 toilets.
