With change in attitude of people against open defecation, the district administration inches closer towards declaring itself open defecation free (ODF) district by March 31, 2017.
To eradicate open defecation in all the 322 gram panchayats in the district, toilets were constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). In 2015-16, 107 village panchayats declared themselves ODF panchayats and passed resolutions while 30 declared ODF in 2016.
In the past two years, 13,922 toilets were constructed under SBM (G) at a cost of Rs. 16.70 crore while 27,872 toilets were constructed under MGNREGS at Rs. 33.44 crore.
Officials said that a survey was done to identify the households without toilets and also defunct toilets.
Issues such as constraint of space, rented house and commercial establishments were identified and solutions were given by teams comprising officials and local people.
Apart from convincing the members of the family to construct toilet, technical staff also visited houses and made correction in the defunct toilets.
They said that 27,000 toilets were being constructed and work would begin soon for constructing 33,000 toilets that would be completed by March.
To motivate the panchayats that have declared ODF, an incentive of Rs. 5,000 each was given to them so that they continued the sanitation practices.
Collector M. Asia Mariam appealed to people to end open defecation.
Erode
The Erode Corporation began its fortnight-long awareness campaign in pursuit of open defecation free status on Friday through a rally by school students under the aegis of ‘Swachh Suvekshan - 2017’ of the Union Urban Development Ministry.
Swachh Suvekshan entails the assessment and ranking of 500 cities and towns based on the levels of sanitation by the Quality Council of India.
The progress made towards construction of toilets, feedback of citizens, and independent observation of sanitation levels would determine the standing of a local body.
Corporation Commissioner M. Seeni Ajmal Khan said a thrust would be accorded for solid waste management and maintenance of community toilets under Swachh Suvekshan.
