As many as 101 panchayats in the district have been declared as Open Defecation Free with the villagers taking a pledge to use toilets and to end open defecation.
All the panchayats were declared as open defecation free at a gram sabha meeting held on Friday.
Survey
Nine panchayats each in Kammapuram and Kumaratchi, six in Cuddalore and Nallur, seven each in Parangipettai and Virudhachalam, three in Annagramam and Kurinjipadi, 12 in Keerapalayam, eight in Bhuvanagiri, 15 in Kattumannarkovil and 16 in Mangalur have been declared as defecation free said Collector S. Suresh Kumar.
According to a survey conducted in 2013, about 10,936 families in the panchayats didn’t have access to toilets. The district administration chalked an action plan to ensure 100 per cent coverage of toilets in all households in the panchayats. The State Government provided Rs.12,000 to each beneficiary for construction of toilets and all the families were covered under two phases.
Awareness campaign conducted
Mr. Kumar said a massive awareness campaign was conducted and school children and Self-Help Groups were motivated to create awareness among the families to construct individual household toilets.
Officials would also make periodical visits to the panchayats to ensure that the families continued to use toilets and maintained them properly, he added.
Toilets under MGNREGS scheme
The administration has also planned to construct toilets under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in 228 panchayats and the Swacch Bharat Mission in another 455 panchayats.
The administration has planned 100 perc ent coverage of toilets in all panchayats in Cuddalore district by March 2016, Mr. Kumar said.
The administration has selected 64 village panchayats for implementation of the solid waste management programme under the Swacch Bharat Mission in Cuddalore district.
The administration had appointed sanitary guards for collection and segregation of organic and inorganic waste in separate compost pits, he said.
