Biswa Bhusan Mohapatra
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Soon after assuming office Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ (SBM) with much fanfare to cleanse the country of dirt from all walks of life. However, the implementation of SBM in the state is in a shambles due to funds crunch.
The euphoria surrounding the launch of the mission died down soon after due to the Centre’s reluctance to provide resources for building toilets and other sanitation-related works under various Central schemes.
The housing and urban development (H&UD) department has been assigned to take up SBM (Urban) and the rural development (RD) department SBM (Gramin).
Six months into the financial year, the H&UD department has not received a single pie from the Centre under the SBM so far, says an official of the department. However, the RD department has received Rs 7.10crore against the budgetary provision of Rs 666.70crore, sources said.
Interestingly, the Centre has changed the funding pattern by curtailing 75 per cent of Central share to 50 per cent for the schemes.
The poor funding for the SBM has disappointed the state government as implementation of the open defecation-free (ODF) programme by 2019 by constructing individual household latrine (IHHL) along with ensuring environmental cleanliness will be a difficult task. As per a baseline survey, of 90,20,100 rural households in the state, 79,81, 973 do not have toilets. The state set a goal of building 20 lakh toilets in rural areas in current fiscal, but only 1.71 lakh toilets could be constructed till now on an investment of Rs 206.67 crore.
“In the absence of Central funding, the state has been spending from its own resources. If, the Central aid follows, it will be reimbursed to the finance department,” a senior RD official said.
The SBM (urban) scheme is badly-hit owing to non-release of funds by the Union government. According to H&UD department sources, 40,9,398 houses in 102 urban local bodies (ULBs) do not have toilets. It has set a target of building 1.18 lakh toilets in the current fiscal with a Central share of Rs 46.85crore.
“Last year, we had received Rs 1.43crore from the Centre under the SBM (urban), out of which `58lakh was allocated for toilets. This year, we have not received any aid from the Centre under SBM,” the nodal officer of the mission in H&UD department said.
The Centre provides Rs 4,000 for constructing a toilet in the urban areas and Rs 12,000 per unit in the rural areas, the official said. “To enhance the allocation, we have urged the finance department to provide another Rs 4,000 for construction of a toilet in ULBs,” he added.
