Bhubaneswar: Seven districts from the state have achieved 100 per cent toilet coverage target under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) and would soon achieve the Open Defecation Free (ODF) tag.
After the initial success of Deogarh and Jharsuguda in becoming ODF districts of the state, five more districts have joined the league of having 100 per cent toilet coverage. As per the latest information from the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation five others have also covered their targets.
The new districts from the state to achieve 100 per cent toilet coverage include Balasore, Sambalpur, Raygada, Kandhamal and Ganjam. According to the official statistics available most of these districts had very poor records before the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission.
Moreover, it is noticed that there has been a drastic improvement in the magnitude of toilets constructed in some of the districts which had poor records. For example, districts like Deogarh had toilet coverage of two per cent before the launch of the mission in 2014 as out of the total 67,061 identified households there only 1,633 had toilets.
However, the latest statistics, till January 13, also reveal that Odisha is still among the bottom two states in terms of toilet construction as currently it has only 79 per cent toilet coverage while most of the Indian states have either been declared 100 per cent covered. The state has to now construct 16,78,249 more toilets to achieve the ODF tag.
