Conscious of the fact that the State's performance in the area of sanitation is not impressive, the government has embarked on a concerted drive to tackle the problem of open defecation.
The House Listing and Housing Census 2011 revealed that open defecation was still prevalent in respect of 45.7 per cent of households in the State. Over the years, the State, an official puts it, witnessed implementation numerous commendable welfare measures but its track record in eliminating the problem of open defecation is nothing to boast about.
It is against this backdrop that the State government is seeking to provide renewed thrust to the elimination of the problem. While releasing the State government's Vision 2023 document last month, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa referred to her vision of providing piped and pressurised water to all citizens and ensuring that they had access to safe sanitation.
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Last year, Municipal Administration and Rural Development Minister K.P. Munusamy told the Assembly that the government was committed to making the State defecation-free by 2015.
In urban parts, the government, through the offices of Commissioner of Municipal Administration and Director of Town Panchayats, is implementing a scheme of constructing 1,769 common toilets and improving 2,484 common toilets at a cost of about Rs.19.83 crore. For the current year, Rs.50 crore has been set apart.
In rural areas, the government is implementing a host of measures against the problem. One such measure is the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), which is demand-driven and operating on the principle of providing nominal subsidy or no subsidy to rural poor households. Its emphasis is on information, education and communication, capacity building and hygiene education for effective behaviour change with the involvement of panchayat raj Institutions, community-based organisations and non-government organisations.
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Launched in 1999 as a Central scheme, the TSC will go on till 2017, as per the decision of the Union government. Against the total project outlay of 1,143.67 crore, a sum of Rs. 835.15 crore was till now released and Rs. 679.51 crore spent, according to the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department's Policy Note for 2012-2013.
Under the Campaign, around 38.3 lakh individual household toilets (IHHL) were constructed [till February] against the overall target of 44.2 lakh toilets in the State. There are other components – school sanitation and hygiene education, community sanitary complex and anganwadi toilets. The component concerning school sanitation is implemented in coordination with the departments of School Education and Social Welfare. About 53,700 school toilets have been taken up at a cost of around Rs.118 crore. Under the component of angnawadi toilets, the idea is to provide a baby-friendly toilet in each anganwadi. As for community sanitary complexes, the facility is set up in any place which is acceptable to stake-holders.