Bhubaneswar: The Kandhamal district has become the fifth district of the state to achieve 100 per cent sanitation coverage under the Swachh Bharat Mission as it is reported to have achieved its target of toilet construction.
As per the daily reporting updates of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) as accessed Friday, Kandhamal became the fifth district to achieve the target after Deogarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Balasore achieved their target. It may be mentioned here that Deogarh and Jharsuguda have received the Open Defecation Free district (ODF) tag too.
With the completion of the targeted Individual House Hold Latrine (IHHL), Kandhamal has moved closer to become one of the Open Defecation Free (ODF) districts in the state. The mission which began October 2, 2014 to facilitate construction of toilets for each household has improved the sanitation (toilet) coverage across the state.
As per the statistics, Odisha had a mere toilet coverage of 11.74 per cent in 2014 which has increased to around 72 per cent for the whole state under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural). The state, which is the planning monitoring agency for the mission had chipped in special programme coordinators in districts, made local ground level workers as Swacchagahis to bring behavioural changes and besides roping in Anganwadi workers and ASHA workers.
Different districts in the state have experimented with different ideas to fight the menace of open defecation. While the Lulang panchayat of Deogarh tried to paint their toilet walls under the ‘My Toilet Campaign’, the mission team in Ganjam roped in women to draw rangolis and plant basil plants to discourage erring citizens who were into open defecation.