Yogi govt to make UP 'open defecation free' with 15 mn toilets by Oct 2018

Scheme will cover 59,000 gram panchayats across all 75 districts in the state

Even as Uttar Pradesh fared poorly in the cleanliness survey 2017, Yogi Adityanath government is aiming to achieve open defecation-free (ODF) status for the state by October 2018.
 
To achieve this target the government would construct about 15.5 million toilets across 75 districts in the state. Government would be imparted two months’ technical training in this regard 1,50,000 masons.
 
Under Swachh Bharat Mission, UP is working towards making all its 59,000 gram panchayats ODF by October 2018, which would correspond to the incumbent Yogi regime completing one-and-half years in office.
 

While, 30 districts are being targetted to be ODF by December 2017, the remaining districts would come on board by October 2018, UP additional chief secretary (panchayati raj) said Chanchal Kumar Tiwari.

 
Previously, Yogi had also underlined the concept of 'smart villages' on lines of ‘smart cities’ to stress the target of ODF by next year. He lamented UP lagged its peers in the cleanliness matrix, despite availability of sanitation staff, both in urban and rural areas due to laxity and lack of coordination.
 
In recent Swachh Survekshan Survey 2017, Centre’s ranking of cities are completely based on cleanliness and sanitation parameters, two cleanest cities Indore and Bhopal belonged to Madhya Pradesh, while three of the 10 dirtiest (total 434 cities were surveyed), including Gonda, figuring at the bottom were in UP.

 
However, the assessment methodology was tweaked a little this year. In 2016, 1,000 marks were allotted for self assessment of municipalities, 500 for independent evaluation through onsite observation and 500 for citizen feedback. This year, 900 marks were allotted for self-assessment, 500 for independent evaluation and 600 for citizen feedback.
 
One of the flagship projects of Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Swachh Bharat Mission is estimated to cost nearly Rs 62,000 crore, of which the private sector has been envisaged to contribute nearly 70 per cent or a little over Rs 42,500 crore. Of the public sector expenditure, Centre is mandated to provide about Rs 14,600 crore, while state and union territories (UT) would contribute about Rs 4,900 crore.

 
The Mission, which was launched by Modi on October 2, 2014, is being implemented in all the 4,041 statutory towns and cities across India. It aims at eliminating open defecation and manual scavenging, besides promoting modern and scientific municipal solid waste management.
 
According to the Mission guidelines, Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and state and UT have been empowered to propose and approve their projects.
 
The Centre provides incentive of Rs 4,000 to individual households for the construction of toilet, 40 per cent as grant or viability gap fund (VGF) for community toilets and 20 per cent grant/VGF for solid waste management projects. Public toilets have to be built with private investment.