New Delhi: Keeping in mind the fast coverage of rural households with household toilets, Balasore is likely to become the second district from the state to become Open Defecation Free (ODF), one of the targets of the ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission.
With the target of 100 per cent coverage of toilets not very far, the district would be declared the second district in state after Deogarh to be declared open
defecation free.
Deogarh in September this year became the maiden district from Orissa to be declared ODF by the ministry of drinking water and sanitation.
As per the latest information with the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, Balasore has achieved 87.15 per cent toilet coverage in the district and second only to Deogarh which has now achieved 100 per cent coverage. Others among the better performing districts are Jharsuguda (65.28%), Gajapati (61.50%) and Jagatsinghpur (55.13%).
The ministry data meanwhile claimed that some of the districts like Bolangir, Kalahandi, Jajpur and Cuttack are far away from their ODF targets. These worst performing districts in terms of coverage of toilets have reported a coverage of lesser than 31 per cent.
The Swachh Bharat Mission claims that a total of 220 districts in India including Deogarh have been declared ODF after the launch of the mission in October 2014. It also claims that Orissa, which had merely 12.12 per cent toilet coverage before the launch of the mission, has now 43.24 per cent coverage. PNN
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