District Collector C.A. Latha has stressed the need to expedite the work on the construction of toilets under the Open Defecation Free (ODF) programme.
The State has set a deadline of November 1 for the completion of the programme. While the district has taken up the campaign on a war footing, there have been bottlenecks in the construction of toilets in the low-lying, inundated stretches on the western borders and the steep hilly areas and the rocky stretches on the eastern borders.
The campaign got delayed in some places with most grama panchayats expected to complete construction work only by September, the authorities said.
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According to the survey conducted as part of the campaign, the district needs 15, 428 toilets more, to be declared ODF. Out of these, 13,198 toilets are to be constructed in the 71 grama panchayats and 2,230 are spread over seven municipalities.