Hailakandi district in Assam becomes open defecation free

The district of Hailakandi district in southern Assam, under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), has become open defecation free (ODF), an official of the district administration said Saturday.

A total number of 84,614 individual household latrines (IHHLs) were constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), on the basis of a baseline survey that was carried out in 2012, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Hailakandi, Adil Khan, said.

The district has 62 gaon panchayats and 331 villages covered under five development blocks Hailakandi, Lala, Katlicherra, Algapur and South Hailakandi, Khan said.

The total cost involved in attaining the target was around Rs 101 crore, the DC added.

"Having reached the feat, the district administration intends to focus more on the towns under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) scheme. More than construction of toilets, we want to bring about behavioural change in the people, better sanitation and hygiene measures among residents," he said.

The deputy commissioner also congratulated the officials and employees of the public health engineering department (PHED) for their efforts in making the district ODF.

"The SBM (Grameen) programme in Hailakandi district has been made possible due to the teamwork and coordination among the officials of the district administration and PHED, Hailakandi division," Khan said.

Khan led the mission from the front, made whirlwind tours across the district, monitored and supervised the construction work of toilets and took feedback from people, the Executive Engineer of Public Health Engineering Department, Megha Das, said.

"For the success of the mission, credit goes to our deputy commissioner, who is also the chairman of drinking water and sanitation committee," Das said.

Meanwhile, a proposal has been sent to Dispur for sanctioning of funds for repair work and renovation of some of the newly-constructed toilets that were damaged by the deluge that hit the district in June this year.