HYDERABAD: The state government which has been promoting Hyderabad as the most livable city in the country seems to have turned a blind eye to the uglier side of its capital. There are as many as 35 to 40 wards located in the heart of the twin cities which are still plagued by open defecation, mainly due to a lack of individual household toilets.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) hasn’t been able to provide individual toilets to people from poorer sections of society.
Even posh wards like Banjara Hills, Nallakunta, Kondapur, Kapra, Rajendra Nagar, Amberpet and others have not been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) wards.
Though Municipal Administration and Urban Development department is trying to achieve 100 per cent (ODF) tag, covering all urban areas in Telangana including Greater Hyderabad, it has been extending deadlines at regular intervals.
GHMC officials told Express that in the light of Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), they have had first invited applications from households at all the GHMC circle level, a few months ago.
Though there are over 50,000 households which do not have individual toilets. The Corporation received some 7,500 applications and of them 3,325 have been approved and are said to be under various stages of construction.
Under SBM, Central Government aims to ensure that all families have access to toilets. The funds are shared between the central and state government in 60:40 ratio. The incentive amount provided under SBM to the beneficiary is up to `12,000 for construction of one unit of Individual Household Latrines (IHL).
Ministry of Urban Development is providing every household without an amount of `4,000 to construct a toilet with, an additional incentive share from the state government under the SBM.
The IHHL are low-cost toilets provided to Below Poverty Line (BPL) households and especially certain category of above poverty line household such as scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. MAUD Department’s goal was to make all Urban Local Bodies (ULB) open defection free by June 2, 2017. The initial target was to make all ULBs ODF by October 2016, but only less than ten ULBs have made the cut so far.