Over 4 lakh household toilets have been constructed in urban areas under Swachh Bharat Mission

Since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014, over four lakh individual household toilets have been constructed in urban areas of the country,according to officials. Apart from 4,35,805 toilets constructed in urban areas till July this year, 22,419 toilet seats were made available and the number of municipal wards reporting 100 per cent door-to-door collection of municipal solid waste was also increasing. The Mission in urban areas is being implemented at a cost of Rs 62,009 crore.

During July this year, 52,473 household toilets and 3,786 community and public toilet seats were constructed in urban areas. Cent percent door-to-door collection of solid waste has been achieved in 2,562 wards during the last month, according to a senior Urban Development Ministry official involved with the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Lead performers in building household toilets during the last month included Gujarat which constructed 33,670 toilets, accounting for 64 per cent of the total toilets built in urban areas of the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh (7244), Punjab (5677), Karnataka (1845), Haryana (1829), Chattisgarh (1676), Mizoram (300), Rajasthan (167), Manipur (41) and Uttarakhand (22). Haryana, Mizoram and Manipur have reported for the first time construction of household toilets during July this year.

In construction of community and public toilets in July this year, Madhyra Pradesh led the effort with 1550 toilet seats, followed by Rajasthan (640), Tamil Nadu (600), Telangana (530) and Odisha (420). As far as Delhi is concerned, the official said, it has reported repair and renovation of about 4,500 dysfunctional community and public toilets till July.

With regard to progress in solid waste management in July, Jammu & Kashmir led others having reported 100 per cent door-to-door collection of municipal waste in 989 wards, followed by Andhra Pradesh (777), Rajasthan (215), Haryana (196), UP (184), MP (110) and Maharashtra in 76 wards.

Out of the 78,003 municipal wards in the country, 31,470 wards have so far reported 100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste, including the progress achieved before the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission.

100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste has been reported by Chandigarh in all of its 26 wards and Andaman and Nicobar Islands in all 18 wards. Chandigarh reported municipal waste generation of 340 tonnes per day and 100 per cent processing of the same.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands reported waste generation of 70 tonnes per day and recycling of 30 per cent of it as against the target of 60 per cent processing by March next year. Delhi has reported waste generation of 8,590 tonnes per day and processing of 52 per cent of it during the last month as against the target of 75 per cent for March next year.

While total solid waste generation during July this year in urban areas was reported to be 1,42,580 tonnes per day, 15.33 per cent of it was processed as against the target of 32 per cent for March next year. Ten states and Union Territories are still to start processing of solid waste namely Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Sikkikm, Tripura and West Bengal.

Construction of toilets in urban areas under Swachh Bharat Mission is still to take off in 14 states and UTs including in A&N Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Jharkhand, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and West Bengal.

Taking a serious view of the lack of initiative on the part of these states and UTs, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has directed the Ministry officials to convey the concerns of the Ministry to the representatives of these States/UTs to find out reasons for the same and to ensure necessary momentum.

Swachh Bharat Mission's targets in urban areas include construction of 1.04 crore individual household toilets, over 5 lakh community and public toilet seats and 100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste, its transportation and disposal, to be achieved by the year 2019.

-PTI