Adilabad Collector M. Jagan Mohan on Wednesday said the government would focus on the construction of at least one toilet in every household in the district. He said people in Adilabad were prone to seasonal diseases owing to open defecation, which needed to be curbed immediately.
Addressing a meeting and later a press conference, the Collector said that over 1.8 lakh individual toilets had been sanctioned in the district so far. The construction of 44,000 toilets has been completed and nearly 40,000 more are in various stages of completion, he added.
Giving out figures, Mr. Jagan Mohan said the number of toilets completed in schools was just 173 against the 2,858 sanctioned. He said the government had enhanced the outlay of each toilet from Rs. 10,900 to Rs. 12,000.
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Earlier, the Collector flagged off a 2 km run in connection with World Toilet Day from DIET ground to Indira Priyadarshini stadium. NCC cadets and students from the school participated in the run.
Karimnagar Special Correspondent adds: On World Toilet Day, students of various educational institutions participated in a rally in Karimnagar town to create awareness on the importance of the construction of toilets.
Zilla Parishad chairperson Tula Uma flagged off the rally from the Circus grounds, which converged into a meeting at the Collectorate conference hall. Speaking on the occasion, the ZP chairperson stressed the need for the construction of toilets for both – self-respect and cleanliness.
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DEO K. Lingaiah said that only 60 per cent of the population was using toilets in the district and urged people to take up the construction of toilets as the government was providing them all subsidies.
Nalgonda Staff Reporter adds: A massive rally was taken out in the district headquarters to mark World Toilet Day.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, District Collector T. Chiranjeevulu said that there were still 3.60 lakh households without individual toilets in the district that account for 41 per cent of the total houses, according to the 2011 census.
He further said that they had taken up the construction of 79,000 toilets recently and 45,000 had already been completed.
The Collector said that they aimed at completing the construction of 100 per cent individual toilets by October 2, 2019, which would be the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Zilla Parisath chairman Balu Nayak said school-going girl children had to experience difficulties as many of the schools in the district had no toilets.
He urged the officials to construct toilets in all the schools on a priority basis. Nalgonda MP Gutha Sukendar Reddy, said that many were falling sick due to open defecation, particularly in rural parts of the district.
Additional Joint Collector S. Venkat Rao, Zilla Parisath Chief Executive Officer K. Damodar Reddy and others were present.