New Delhi: Balasore is set to become the third Open Defecation Free (ODF) district of the state as it is about to complete 100 per cent sanitation coverage soon due to its improved sanitation data.
As per the latest data from the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, rural areas of Balasore till Monday achieved 96.05 per cent Individual Household Latrine Coverage and is now racing towards becoming the third ODF district of Odisha under the Swachh Bharat Mission (rural).
Deogarh and Jharsuguda districts have already been declared ODF due to their 100 per coverage of households with toilets and self declaration of the villages at the Gram Sabha level.
As per the statistics of the ministry, Sambalpur and Kandhamal are the two other districts which are reported to have the highest coverage after Deogarh, Jharsuguda and Balasore at 79.41 per cent and 78.91 per cent sanitation coverage respectively.
Kalahandi (33.05%) and Bolangir (38.51%) are reported to be the worst performers as they have the lowest coverage of toilets in rural parts of the districts. Other districts that are lagging behind include Mayurbhanj (39.40%), Cuttack (40.38%) and Koraput (42.34%).
On the national level, the state however is currently reported to have the lowest toilet coverage in India. In 2014, Odisha had 11.72 per cent sanitation coverage while at present it has 56.74 per cent sanitation coverage. Some other states like Bihar and Jharkhand that had worse records earlier have now improved their indicators over last four years.